Products and processes for vending a plurality of products via defined groups

ABSTRACT

Products and processes are disclosed for defining at least one inventory group. This at least one inventory group includes at least two products that are available for sale by a vending machine. The vending machine outputs an indication of products that the at least one inventory group includes. The vending machine receiving, from a customer, a selection of a first product that the at least one inventory group includes. The vending machine processes a sale of a unit of the first product and a respective unit of at least one additional product for a single price.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

The present application claims the benefit of priority of the followingprovisional patent applications, each of which is incorporated herein byreference as part of the present disclosure:

-   (a) U.S. Provisional Patent Application No. 60/491,215, filed Jul.    30, 2003, entitled “APPARATUS, SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR VENDING A    COMBINATION OF PRODUCTS”;-   (b) U.S. Provisional Patent Application No. 60/536,277, filed Jan.    13, 2004, entitled “APPARATUS, SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR VENDING A    COMBINATION OF PRODUCTS”;-   (c) U.S. Provisional Patent Application No. 60/560,960, filed Apr.    9, 2004, entitled “APPARATUS, SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR VENDING A    COMBINATION OF PRODUCTS”.

The present application may be considered related to U.S. patentapplication Ser. No. [NOT YET ASSIGNED], filed Jul. 29, 2004, entitled“PRODUCTS AND PROCESSES FOR VENDING A PLURALITY OF PRODUCTS”.

BACKGROUND

Traditional vending machines respond to changes in supply, demand, andcustomer behavior ineffectively, especially when compared to theabilities of, e.g., human salespeople.

Applicants have previously recognized that significant benefits ensuefrom vending machines configured to dynamically respond to market forcesby, for example, identifying a combination of products and offering thecombination of products for a promotional price. For example, a parentapplication, U.S. patent application Ser. No. 10/095,372, enables thecreation of promotional product combinations based on supply and/ordemand data.

The advantages of Applicants' previous inventions are significant.Nevertheless, given the complexity of the relevant market forces, itwould be advantageous for vending machine systems and methods thatdynamically respond to market forces by offering a combination ofproducts.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 depicts an embodiment of control software comprising abstractcomponents.

FIG. 2 illustrates an embodiment of a proactive inventory groupingembodiment.

FIG. 3 illustrates an embodiment of a reactive inventory groupingembodiment.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Numerous embodiments are described in this patent application, and arepresented for illustrative purposes only. The described embodiments arenot intended to be limiting in any sense. The invention is widelyapplicable to numerous embodiments, as is readily apparent from thedisclosure herein. Those skilled in the art will recognize that thepresent invention may be practiced with various modifications andalterations. Although particular features of the present invention maybe described with reference to one or more particular embodiments orfigures, it should be understood that such features are not limited tousage in the one or more particular embodiments or figures withreference to which they are described.

The terms “an embodiment”, “embodiment”, “embodiments”, “theembodiment”, “the embodiments”, “one or more embodiments”, “someembodiments”, and “one embodiment” mean “one or more (but not all)embodiments of the present invention(s)” unless expressly specifiedotherwise.

The terms “including”, “comprising” and variations thereof mean“including but not limited to”, unless expressly specified otherwise.

The enumerated listing of items does not imply that any or all of theitems are mutually exclusive, unless expressly specified otherwise.

The terms “a”, “an” and “the” mean “one or more”, unless expresslyspecified otherwise.

Devices that are in communication with each other need not be incontinuous communication with each other, unless expressly specifiedotherwise. In addition, devices that are in communication with eachother may communicate directly or indirectly through one or moreintermediaries.

A description of an embodiment with several components in communicationwith each other does not imply that all such components are required. Onthe contrary a variety of optional components are described toillustrate the wide variety of possible embodiments of the presentinvention.

Further, although process steps, method steps, algorithms or the likemay be described in a sequential order, such processes, methods andalgorithms may be configured to work in alternate orders. In otherwords, any sequence or order of steps that may be described does notnecessarily indicate a requirement that the steps be performed in thatorder. The steps of processes described herein may be performed in anyorder practical. Further, some steps may be performed simultaneously.

It will be readily apparent that the various methods and algorithmsdescribed herein may be implemented by, e.g., appropriately programmedgeneral purpose computers and computing devices. Typically a processor(e.g., a microprocessor) will receive instructions from a memory or likedevice, and execute those instructions, thereby performing a processdefined by those instructions. Further, programs that implement suchmethods and algorithms may be stored and transmitted using a variety ofknown media.

When a single device or article is described herein, it will be readilyapparent that more than one device/article (whether or not theycooperate) may be used in place of a single device/article. Similarly,where more than one device or article is described herein (whether ornot they cooperate), it will be readily apparent that a singledevice/article may be used in place of the more than one device orarticle.

The functionality and/or the features of a device may be alternativelyembodied by one or more other devices which are not explicitly describedas having such functionality/features. Thus, other embodiments of thepresent invention need not include the device itself.

The term “computer-readable medium” as used herein refers to any mediumthat participates in providing data (e.g., instructions) which may beread by a computer, a processor or a like device. Such a medium may takemany forms, including but not limited to, non-volatile media, volatilemedia, and transmission media. Non-volatile media include, for example,optical or magnetic disks and other persistent memory. Volatile mediainclude dynamic random access memory (DRAM), which typically constitutesthe main memory. Transmission media include coaxial cables, copper wireand fiber optics, including the wires that comprise a system bus coupledto the processor. Transmission media may include or convey acousticwaves, light waves and electromagnetic emissions, such as thosegenerated during radio frequency (RF) and infrared (IR) datacommunications. Common forms of computer-readable media include, forexample, a floppy disk, a flexible disk, hard disk, magnetic tape, anyother magnetic medium, a CD-ROM, DVD, any other optical medium, punchcards, paper tape, any other physical medium with patterns of holes, aRAM, a PROM, an EPROM, a FLASH-EEPROM, any other memory chip orcartridge, a carrier wave as described hereinafter, or any other mediumfrom which a computer can read.

Various forms of computer readable media may be involved in carryingsequences of instructions to a processor. For example, sequences ofinstruction (i) may be delivered from RAM to a processor, (ii) may becarried over a wireless transmission medium, and/or (iii) may beformatted according to numerous formats, standards or protocols, such asBluetooth, TDMA, CDMA, and 3G.

Where databases are described, it will be understood by one of ordinaryskill in the art that (i) alternative database structures to thosedescribed may be readily employed, (ii) other memory structures besidesdatabases may be readily employed.

Definitions and Exemplary Usage of Certain Terms

-   Actual Product Velocity, Actual Sales Rate—The actual rate at which    a given product is sold by a vending machine during a sales period.    The actual rate may be expressed in various forms, including units    sold per time, sales revenue per time, and gross profit per time.-   Component Product—a product, of which a unit may be sold (e.g.,    pursuant to an offer) along with at least one other unit of the same    or another product.-   Fill Period, Sales Period—The period of time between restock dates.-   Full Price, Retail Price—In some embodiments, the price that is    normally charged for the purchase of one unit of a given product    when purchased alone, (i.e. not as a component product).-   Ideal Product Velocity, Target Product Velocity, Ideal Sales Rate,    Target Sales Rate, Target Velocity—The desired rate at which a given    product should be sold by a vending machine during a period of time,    such as a sales period. The desired rate can help achieve various    goals, including a desired profit, sales, inventory level and/or    amount of transactions. Moreover, such goals can be represented as,    e.g., a value to be achieved by a certain time, or as a value    averaged over a period of time. Thus, in some embodiments, an ideal    velocity may be set or calculated for each inventoried product    indicating the rate at which products must be sold in order to    deplete the vending machine's inventory to a certain level by the    end of a given sales period (i.e. by the restock time/date or an    expiration time/date). For example, an ideal product velocity may be    calculated by a vending machine control system after an operator    inputs a restock date and a desired remaining inventory for the    restock date (e.g. an operator may wish to have only one unit of    each product remaining at the restock date so that the machine sells    as many units as possible without completely selling out and thereby    disappointing customers). Thus, if an operator (a) stocks 50 units    of Soda A, (b) inputs a restock date fourteen days away, and (c)    indicates that only one unit of Soda A should remain at the restock    date, the control system may divide 49 by 14 to conclude that, on    average, 3.5 units of Soda A must be sold per day within the sales    period in order to realize the ideal product velocity. As discussed    herein, a vending machine control system may periodically,    substantially continuously, or otherwise evaluate the difference    between a product or products' actual product velocity and ideal    product velocity for the purpose of making package offer decisions    (e.g. in proactive inventory grouping embodiments, determining which    products to assign to a certain inventory group). The actual rate at    which a given product should be sold may be expressed in various    forms, including units of the product sold per time, sales revenue    from sales of units of the product per time, and profit from sales    of units of the product per time.-   Income Contribution Factor, Profit Contribution Factor—A measure of    the revenue or profit realized due to the sale of a particular    product. In some embodiments, a product's income contribution factor    may be defined by the total amount of revenue or the total amount of    profit generated by the product during a certain time period (e.g.    during a fill period, between certain dates, every twenty four    hours). In other embodiments, a product's income contribution factor    may be represented as a percentage, such as that which may be    calculated by dividing the amount of profit generated by the product    in a certain period of time by the total amount of profit generated    by some or all products sold through the vending machine in the time    period. For example, if a vending machine realized $100 in total    profit during a fill period, and a certain product was responsible    for generating $12 of the profit, that product's income contribution    factor could be represented as the percentage ‘12%’. In some    embodiments, an income contribution factor may be used for the    purpose of determining how to allocate a product to one or more    inventory groups.-   Inventory Group, Package Group—A set of products. An inventory group    may include a single product, or more than one product. In many    embodiments, a customer may select a component product from an    inventory group. In certain proactive inventory grouping    embodiments, pursuant to a package offer, customers may select at    least two component products, a component product selected from each    of at least two inventory groups, for a single price. In reactive    inventory grouping embodiments, pursuant to a package offer,    customers may select a second component product from an inventory    group that is revealed after a first component product is selected    from a first inventory group. In one or more embodiments, inventory    groups may be communicated to customers through colored LEDs located    proximately to inventoried products (e.g. products in a “red” group    may be communicated via proximately located red LEDs; products in a    “green” group may be communicated via proximately located green    LEDs). In proactive and reactive inventory grouping embodiments,    inventory groups may be “reactively? Automatically?” determined by a    vending machine control system during a sales period. In other    embodiments, inventory groups are not determined reactively?    Automatically? (as in proactive or reactive inventory grouping    embodiments), but are rather determined prior to a sales period by    an operator or other person, and are stored (e.g., as rules in a    database) accessible to a vending machine control system.-   Operator—The owner (or employee or agent thereof) of a vending    machine.-   Package Offer, Package Deal, Combination Deal, Combination Offer,    Combination Product Offer, “Load-up” Deal, Value Combo Deal, Combo    Deal—An offer enabling a customer to purchase at least two products.    In many embodiments the at least two products are sold for a single    price. In many embodiments, the two products are dispensed to the    customer essentially simultaneously (e.g., within seconds of each    other). Typically, package offers are configured so the price of the    at least two products is less than the sum of the prices of the two    products, and thus the customer saves money compared to the sum of    the individual component products' retail prices.-   Package Instance, Potential Package—A combination of specific    component products according to a package offer. Thus, a package    offer defines one or more (but typically many) package instances. In    some embodiments, package instances are constructed and compared to    other package instances for the purpose of determining which    products may be made available for selection by a customer pursuant    to a package offer. In some proactive inventory grouping    embodiments, package instances are constructed and compared in order    to determine how to apportion inventory between two inventory    groups. In some reactive inventory grouping embodiments, package    instances are constructed and compared in order to determine the    composition of an inventory group from which a customer may select a    second component product after a first component product has been    selected.-   Package Price—The price that is charged (typically in a single    transaction) for the units of products purchased pursuant to a    package offer. Typically, package prices reflect a net-savings to    the customer when compared to the sum of the respective retail    prices of the individual component products.-   Product Cost, Item Cost, Cost—The cost to the operator of a unit of    selling a given product. The product cost may reflect the fixed cost    and/or the variable cost in selling a unit of the product. In some    embodiments, stored rules may instruct a vending machine control    system to not sell a product or products unless the cost of the    product(s) is equal to or less than a certain price (e.g., a retail    price, a package price). In other embodiments, stored rules may    instruct a vending machine control system to sell a product or    products even though the cost of the product or products is greater    than a retail price or package price, as may be the case where the    product or products' actual sales rates are above a certain    threshold (e.g. where actual sales rates exceed target sales rates).-   Product, Item—A good or service provided by (e.g., sold by,    dispensed by, handled by) a vending machine. Examples of goods    provided by vending machines include beverages (e.g. cans of soda)    and snacks (e.g. candy bars).-   Restock Date, Restock Time—The time and/or date that a vending    machine is scheduled to be restocked by an operator (or agent    thereof) of a vending machine.

Various embodiments, including products and processes, are disclosed forfacilitating the sales of combinations of units of products. Thedisclosed embodiments are particularly suitable for use in one or morevending machines or like apparatus.

According to an embodiment, a vending machine or other apparatus isconfigured to increase sales and/or profitability through novelprocessing of sales data, cost data and/or other data available to thevending machine.

In particular, various embodiments allow groups of products to bedefined according to various criteria. Customers are prompted topurchase products from the groups. Thus, appropriate definition of thegroups can lead to benefits such as increased profits per time.

According to a “proactive inventory grouping” embodiment of the presentinvention, on a periodic, substantially continuous or event-triggeredbasis, sales and/or cost data is monitored and evaluated against storedrules for the purpose of determining how to apportion inventory among atleast two inventory groups from which, pursuant to a package offer, acustomer may select and purchase at least two products for a singleprice. In determining how to apportion inventory to the differentinventory groups, a vending machine may consider a value rating of oneor more products. For example, products having a relatively high valuerating may be allocated to a first inventory group, while productshaving a relatively low value rating may be allocated to a secondinventory group. Thereafter, package offers encouraging the purchase ofat least two products (e.g., at least one product from each of at leasttwo inventory groups) may be output to prospective customers through oneor more output devices. For example, a scrolling light emitting diode(LED) display may read “Pick any item from the red group and any itemfrom the green group for $1.00!”, and shelf-mounted LED displays locatedadjacent to the various qualifying products may contemporaneously flashin red and/or green to indicate the products' inventory groupingstatuses (i.e. green or red). The vending machine may be furtherconfigured to process package offer transactions in accordance with suchadvertised package offers by (i) receiving, through an input device, anindication of customer acceptance and (ii) dispensing a combination ofproducts consistent with the advertised package offer.

According to a “reactive inventory grouping” embodiment, a customer isoffered the ability to purchase a combination of products for a singleprice by the customer selecting a first product from a first group ofinventoried products, and then the customer picking a second productfrom a second inventory group that is revealed to the customer after thefirst product is selected. In determining which inventoried productswill be included in the second inventory group, a vending machine mayconsider a value rating of one or more products.

Further, according to some embodiments, a value rating of one or moreproducts may be determined by considering one or more of (i) the timeremaining until a restock date, (ii) the time remaining until anexpiration date of a product or products, (iii) an actual sales rate ofa product or products, (iv) a target or ideal sales rate of a product orproducts, (v) the cost of a product or products, (vi) the retail priceof an individual unit of a product or products, (vii) the profit marginof a product or products at a given sale price such as the retail price,(viii) the historical acceptance rate of package instance comprising agiven combination of products, and/or (ix) one or more products' incomeor profit contribution factor(s) (e.g., measures of one or moreproducts' historic success in the marketplace).

I. Vending Machine Apparatus and System Architecture

A. Introduction

Generally, a vending machine according to various embodiments caninclude a device configured to manage sales transactions with customersby, among other things, receiving payment from customers, controllingthe pricing and/or distribution of goods and/or controlling entitlementsto services.

B. Machine Casing/Cabinetry

In some embodiments, suitable machine cabinetry may be constructed fromany suitable material, including but not limited to any combination of(1) commercial grade sixteen-gauge steel (e.g. for exterior panels andinternal shelving), (2) transparent materials such as glass or Plexiglas(e.g. for product display windows), (3) rubber (e.g. for waterproofinginsulation), (4) plastic, and/or (5) aluminum.

Many commercially available machine casings can be adapted to work inaccordance with various embodiments. For example, in snack machineembodiments, a suitable machine casing may comprise the 129 SnackShopmanufactured by Automatic Products International, Ltd. of Saint Paul,Minn., which stands at 72″/1829 mm wide, has a width of 38⅞″/988 mm, anda depth of 35″/889 mm. Other suitable snack machine casings include theA La Carte® machine from Automatic Products, and the GPL SnackVendormodel # 159 from Crane Merchandising Systems/Crane Co. of Stamford,Conn.

In beverage machine embodiments, machine casings commercially availablefrom Dixie Narco, Inc. of Williston, S.C. may be employed. Beveragemachine casings may comprise a “cooler” or “glass front” style frontpanel, featuring a transparent front panel (e.g. glass) enablingcustomers to see inventory for sale. Alternatively, beverage machinecasings may comprise a “bubble front” style front panel, featuring adecorative front panel, typically used to advertise a logo of a productmanufacturer commercially interested in the vending machine's operation.

Other embodiments are contemplated as well, including combination snackand beverage vending machine embodiments, such as those available fromCrain Co. Further details concerning the suitability of machinecasing/cabinetry are well known in the art, and need not be described infurther detail herein.

C. Inventory Storage and Dispensing Mechanisms

Inventory storage and distribution functions of a vending machineconfigured in accordance with a snack machine embodiment of the presentinvention may include one or more conventional components, including:(i) a drive motor, (ii) metal shelves, (iii) a product delivery system(e.g. a chute, product tray, product tray door, etc.), (iv) dual spiral(i.e. double helix) product dispensing rods, (v) convertible (i.e.extendable) shelves, and/or (vi) a refrigeration unit. In embodimentsusing the casing of the model 129 SnackShop manufactured by AutomaticProducts, 3 removable shelves may be employed, together providing for 30product rows and an inventory capacity of between 185 to 522 commonlyvended snack products.

Inventory storage and distribution functions of a vending machineconfigured in accordance with a beverage machine embodiment of thepresent invention may include one or more conventional components,including: (i) metal and/or plastic shelving, (ii) product dispensingactuators/motors, (iii) product delivery chutes, and/or (iv) arefrigeration unit.

In many types of beverage and snack vending machines, operators willtypically stock several units of the same product linearly arranged in acolumn, allowing individual units to be dispensed upon command. The sameproduct may be stocked in more than one column. Similarly, more than oneproduct may be stocked in a single column. Examples of services sold byvending machines include car washes, photography services and access todigital content (e.g. permitting the downloading of MP3 files to ahandheld device).

Further details concerning vending machine inventory storage anddispensing mechanisms are well known in the art, and need not bedescribed in further detail herein.

D. Payment Processing Mechanisms

The vending machine may also include one or more mechanisms forreceiving payment and dispensing change, including a coin acceptor, abill validator, a card reader (e.g. a magnetic stripe reader) and achange dispenser.

In a manner known in the art, a magnetic stripe card reader may readdata on the magnetic stripe of a credit or debit card, and it maycooperate with conventional point-of-sale credit card processingequipment to validate card-based purchases through a conventionaltransaction authorization network. Suitable card-based transactionprocessing systems and methods are available from USA Technologies, Inc.

The coin acceptor, bill validator and change dispenser may communicatewith a currency storage apparatus (a “hopper”) and may compriseconventional devices such as models AE-2400, MC5000, TRC200 by Mars,Inc. of West Chester, Pennsylvania, or CoinCo model 9300-L. The coinacceptor and bill validator may receive and validate currency that isstored by the currency storage apparatus. The change dispenser activatesthe return of coinage from the currency storage apparatus to thecustomer where appropriate (e.g. where a customer deposits more currencythan is required for a given transaction). Such apparatus may featureMultidrop Bus (MDB) and/or Micromech peripheral capabilities, as isknown in the art.

In another embodiment, a vending machine according to variousembodiments may be configured to receive payment authorization andproduct selection commands through a wireless device communicationnetwork, directly or indirectly, from a customer's wireless device (e.g.a cellular telephone). In such an embodiment, a payment processingmechanism may comprise a cellular transceiver operatively connected to aprocessor, as described herein. Systems and methods allowing for theselection of and payment for vending machine articles through cellulartelephones are provided by USA Technologies, Inc., of Wayne, Pa.Further, in such an embodiment, a cellular telephone may serve as aninput/output device, as described herein.

Further details concerning vending machine payment processing mechanismsare well known in the art, and need not be described in further detailherein.

E. Input/Output Devices

According to various embodiments, a vending machine may include an inputdevice for receiving input from (i) a customer indicating a productand/or offer selection, and/or (ii) an operator (or agent thereof)during stocking or maintenance of the vending machine. Also, a vendingmachine may include one or more output devices for outputting product oroffer information to a customer or operator.

Many combinations of input and output devices may be employed accordingto various embodiments. In some embodiments, a vending machine mayinclude more than one input device. For example, vending machine mayinclude an exterior input device for receiving customer input and aninterior input device for receiving operator input. In some embodiments,however, the input device provides the dual functionality of receivinginput data from both operators and customers. Likewise, a vendingmachine may comprise more than one output device (e.g. an LCD screen andseveral LEDs, as described herein). However, in some embodiments, suchas those which feature touch screens (described herein), input andoutput functionality may be provided by a single device.

Many types of input devices are contemplated. Thus, an input device maycomprise one or more of (1) a set of alpha-numeric keys for providinginput to the vending machine, such as the Programmable Master Menu®Keypad, (2) a selector dial, (3) a set of buttons associated with arespective set of product dispensers, (4) a motion sensor, (5) a barcodereader, (6) a voice recognition module, (7) a Dual-Tone Multi-Frequencyreceiver/decoder, (8) a wireless device (e.g. a cellular telephone orwireless Personal Digital Assistant), and/or (9) any other conventionalinput device commonly employed by a vending machine designer.

Likewise, many types of output devices are contemplated. For example, anoutput device may comprise a Liquid Crystal Display (LCD). Alternativelyor additionally, an output device may also comprise one or more LightEmitting Diode (LED) displays (e.g. several alphanumeric multi-color orsingle color LED displays on the shelves of a vending machine associatedproximately with each row of product inventory).

In one embodiment, an LED display screen is mounted atop the vendingmachine (via bolts or other mounting hardware) and is used tocommunicate offers and other messages (e.g. product advertisements) toprospective customers. A suitable LED display screen for such anembodiment maybe housed in an aluminum case having a length of 27.5″, aheight of 4.25″, and a depth of 1.75″. Such a display screen may have adisplay area capable of showing 13 alphanumeric and/or graphicalcharacters. Further, such an LED display screen may comprise a serialcomputer interface, such as an RJ45/RS232 connector, for communicatingwith a processor, as described herein. Further still, such an LEDdisplay may be capable of outputting text and graphics in several colors(e.g. red, yellow, green, black) regarding current and upcomingpromotions.

Further, in some embodiments, an output device comprises a printer. Inone embodiment, a printer is configured to print on card stock paper(e.g. 0.06 mm to 0.15 mm thickness), such as the EPSON EU-T400 SeriesKiosk Printer. Further, a printer may be capable of thermal lineprinting of various alphanumeric and graphical symbols in various fontsizes (e.g. ranging from 9 to 24 point) on various types of paper.Additionally, such a printer may communicate with a processor (describedherein) via an RS232/IEEE 12834 and/or bi-directional parallelconnection. Such a printer may further comprise a 4 KB data buffer.

Additionally, in some embodiments, an output device comprises an audiomodule, such as an audio speaker, that outputs information to customersaudibly.

As stated, in some embodiments, a touch-sensitive screen may be employedto perform both input and output functions. Suitable, commerciallyavailable touch screens for use according to various embodiments aremanufactured by Elo TouchSystems, Inc., of Fremont, Calif., such asElo's AccuTouch series touch screens. Such touch screens may comprise:(i) a first (e.g. outer-most) hard-surface screen layer coated with ananti-glare finish, (ii) a second screen layer coated with atransparent-conductive coating, (iii) a third screen layer comprising aglass substrate with a uniform-conductive coating. Further, such touchscreens may be configured to detect input within a determined positionalaccuracy, such as a standard deviation of error less than ±0.080-inch (2mm). The sensitivity resolution of such touch screens may be more than100,000 touchpoints/in² (15,500 touchpoints/cm²) for a 13-inch touchscreen. For such touch screens, the touch activation force required totrigger an input signal to the processor (described herein) via thetouch screen is typically 2 to 4 ounces (57 to 113 g). Additionally,touch screens for use according to various embodiments may be resistantto environmental stressors such as water, humidity, chemicals,electrostatic energy, and the like. These and other operational detailsof touch screens (e.g. drive current, signal current, capacitance, opencircuit resistance, closed circuit resistance, etc.) are well known inthe art and need not be described further herein.

F. Logic/Control/Processing Apparatus

The components of the vending machine, including the input device,output device, coin acceptor, bill validator, card (e.g. magneticstripe) reader, change dispenser, currency storage apparatus, andproduct dispensing mechanism(s) (collectively, the “peripherals”)communicate with, and are controlled by, a control system or processor,such as one based on the Intel® Pentium® or Centrino™ series processor.The processor may be in communication with a memory and a communicationsport (e.g., for communicating with one or more other computers orvending machines). The memory may comprise non-volatile media and/orvolatile media, such as an appropriate combination of magnetic, opticaland/or semiconductor memory, and may include, for example, Random AccessMemory (RAM), Read-Only Memory (ROM), a compact disc and/or a hard disk.The memory may comprise or include any type of computer-readable medium.The processor and the memory may each be, for example: (i) locatedentirely within a single computer or other device; or (ii) connected toeach other by a remote communication medium, such as a serial portcable, telephone line or radio frequency transceiver.

A memory may store a program for controlling a processor. The processorperforms instructions of the program, and thereby operates according tovarious embodiments, and particularly in accordance with the processesdescribed in detail herein. The program may be stored in a compressed,uncompiled and/or encrypted format. The program furthermore includesprogram elements that may be necessary or desirable, such as anoperating system, a database management system and “device drivers” forallowing the processor to interface with the peripherals. Appropriateprogram elements are known to those skilled in the art, and need not bedescribed in detail herein.

According to an embodiment of the present invention, the instructions ofthe program may be read into a main memory from anothercomputer-readable medium, such as from a ROM or hard disk. The executionof sequences of the instructions in a program causes the processor toperform the process steps described herein. In alternate embodiments,hard-wired circuitry may be used in place of, or in combination with,software instructions for implementation of the processes of the presentinvention. Thus, embodiments of the present invention are not limited toany specific combination of hardware and software.

The memory also may store one or more databases. Some or all of the datastored in each database is described herein. The described datarepresents exemplary information only; those skilled in the art willunderstand that the number, content, and form of the data can bedifferent from that which is described herein without departing from thespirit and scope of the invention. Further, despite any description ofthe databases as tabular, relational databases, an object-based modelcould be used to store and manipulate the data types of variousembodiments and likewise, object methods or behaviors can be used toimplement the processes of various embodiments.

Thus, the machine's processing apparatus, in conjunction with theperipherals (e.g. through RS232 connections and/or other suitableconnections), manages interactions with the user in accordance withstored business logic, described herein.

G. Retrofitting Conventional Vending Machines with a Separate Device

In one embodiment, one or more of the processor, the input device(s),RAM, ROM, output device(s) and a data storage device may be included,wholly or partially, in a separate device, such as the e-Port™ by USATechnologies Inc., that is in communication with a vending machine. Theseparate device may also be in communication with a network such as theInternet.

The e-Port™ is a credit and smart card-accepting unit that controlsaccess to office and MDB vending equipment, and serves as a point ofpurchase credit card transaction device. The e-Port™ includes an LCDthat allows for the display of color graphics, and a touch sensitiveinput device (touch screen) that allows users to input data to thedevice. The display may be used to prompt users interactively with,e.g., offers and information about their transaction status.

The separate device may alternatively be a programmed computer runningappropriate software for performing various functions described herein.The separate device may be operable to receive input from customers,receive payment from customers, exchange information with a remotelylocated server and/or display messages to customers (e.g. package offercontent). The separate device may be operable to instruct the vendingmachine that appropriate payment has been received (e.g., via a creditcard read by the separate device) and/or that a particular product orproducts should be dispensed by the vending machine. Further, a separatedevice may be operable to instruct the vending machine to executepackage promotions, price changes, or the like.

Thus, a separate device may be operatively connected to a vendingmachine to perform the inventive processes described herein. In thismanner, conventional vending machines may be retrofitted with suchseparate devices so as to perform the inventive processes describedherein.

H. Network Embodiments

Various embodiments may be configured to operate in a networkenvironment including a computer that is in communication, via acommunications network, with one or more vending machines. The computermay communicate with the vending machines directly or indirectly, via awired or wireless medium such as the Internet, LAN, WAN or Ethernet,Token Ring, or via any appropriate communications means or combinationof communications means. Each of the vending machines may comprisecomputers, such as those based on the Intel® Pentium® or Centrino™processor, that are adapted to communicate with the computer. Any numberand type of machines may be in communication with the computer.

Communication between the vending machines and the computer, and amongthe vending machines, may be direct or indirect, such as over theInternet through a Web site maintained by computer on a remote server orover an on-line data network including commercial on-line serviceproviders, bulletin board systems and the like. In yet otherembodiments, the vending machines may communicate with one anotherand/or the computer over RF, cable TV, satellite links and the like.

Some, but not all, possible communication networks that may comprise thenetwork or be otherwise part of the system include: a local area network(LAN), a wide area network (WAN), the Internet, a telephone line, acable line, a radio channel, an optical communications line, and asatellite communications link. Possible communications protocols thatmay be part of the system include: Ethernet (or IEEE 802.3), SAP, ATP,Bluetooth™, and TCP/IP. Communication may be encrypted to ensure privacyand prevent fraud in any of a variety of ways well known in the art.

Those skilled in the art will understand that vending machines and/orcomputers in communication with each other need not be continuallytransmitting to each other. On the contrary, such vending machinesand/or computers need only transmit to each other as necessary ordesirable, and may actually refrain from exchanging data most of thetime. For example, a vending machine in communication with anothermachine via the Internet may not transmit data to the other machine forweeks at a time.

In an embodiment, a server computer may not be necessary or desirable.For example, various embodiments may be practiced on a stand-alonevending machine and/or a vending machine in communication only with oneor more other vending machines. In such an embodiment, any functionsdescribed as performed by the server computer or data described asstored on the server computer may instead be performed by or stored onone or more vending machines.

In other embodiments, a vending machine may be in communication with aremote computer, such as a server, that provides the vending machinewith and/or receives from the vending machine, e.g., all or some of thedata described herein. Thus, in certain embodiments, the server maycomprise certain elements or portions of certain elements such as a datastorage device/memory.

In such an embodiment, the remote computer could be accessible, directlyor indirectly, via a second computer (communicating over the Internet orother network) by a customer or operator. Accordingly, a customer oroperator of the second computer could communicate with the remotecomputer via a Web browser. The second computer could, e.g., receivefrom the remote computer messages described herein as being output bythe vending machine, and/or transmit to the remote computer inputdescribed herein as being provided to the vending machine. Similarly,various data described herein as received through an input device of avending machine may be received through a Web browser communicating witha remote server, which in turn communicates with the vending machine.Thus, an operator of the vending machine may have remote polling andreporting capabilities, may be able to transmit new business rules tothe vending machine, and the like.

II. Vending Machine Logic: Stored Rules, Data and Associated ProcessSteps

A. General Software Architecture

An exemplary software architecture suitable for practicing variousembodiments of the invention is disclosed. Based on the presentdisclosure, those of ordinary skill in the art will readily employ manyother architectures that are within the scope of the present invention.

In one embodiment, a software-based control system executes instructionsfor managing the operation of the vending machine, and in particular inaccordance with the inventive functionality described herein. Suchvending machine operations include, but are not limited to: (1) productpricing (e.g. displaying prices via an LED, changing such prices whereappropriate, etc.), (2) processing sales transactions by (i) receivingone or more product selection from a customer, (ii) processingappropriate payment via a payment processing mechanism, and/or (iii)actuating corresponding product dispensing mechanisms, (3) identifyingpackage offers, (4) outputting package offers to customers via outputdevices (including display of graphics/content on LCD and LED displays),and/or (5) recording transaction information (inventory levels,acceptance rates for package offers, etc.).

In some embodiments, machine peripherals (e.g. machine hardware,including mechanical hardware such as input devices, output devices,inventory dispensing mechanisms, and payment processing mechanismsincluding coin acceptors, bill validators, card readers, changedispensers, etc.) will be controlled by the software-based controlsystem through a standard RS-232 serial interface. In such embodiments,embedded APIs (Application Program Interfaces) and/or devices may beused to enable the software to actuate/control vending machineperipherals via RS-232 connectivity. Such vending machine peripheralsmay be operatively connected to the control system directly orindirectly, in any manner that is practicable.

As illustrated by FIG. 1, in one embodiment the control software thatdirects the control system can be divided into three abstractcomponents. Such division may provide a clear partition of tasks, whichmay be desirable so that any future modification and new programming ofone component can be applied without disrupting other components. Suchdivision also permits certain details of a component to be safelyignored by other components. In FIG. 1 the three abstract components areillustrated, including a Business Logic component 10, a Control Layercomponent 20, and an exemplary Machine Peripheral component 30. Asstated earlier, any number of machine peripherals may be employed. TheBusiness Logic component 10 is connected to Control Layer component 20via API 15; Control Layer component 20 is connected to MachinePeripheral component 30 via API 25.

In one embodiment the Business Logic component 10 visually representsthe portion of the software that selects promotional instances andconfigures offers, as discussed herein. Such a component may access arules database and an inventory database to perform such functions. TheControl Layer component 20 visually represents the portion of thesoftware which interfaces with at least one Machine Peripheral component30, and thereby transmits commands to perform such functions as: (i)outputting offer information via an output device (i.e. a MachinePeripheral component 30), (ii) dispensing products via a productdispensing mechanism (i.e. a Machine Peripheral component 30), and/or(iii) dispensing change due to a customer via a payment processingmechanism, which may include a change dispenser and a currency storageapparatus (i.e. several Machine Peripheral components 30). As stated,the Machine Peripheral component 30 generally represents machinehardware, including mechanical hardware such as input devices, outputdevices, inventory dispensing mechanisms, and payment processingmechanisms including coin acceptors, bill validators, card readers,change dispensers, etc.

Notwithstanding the embodiment of FIG. 1, those of ordinary skill in theart will readily recognize that the control software may be abstractlyrepresented in many, nonexclusive manners. Further, software may bedeveloped and/or represented according to many well-known paradigmsbesides a “layered” paradigm.

B. Package Offer Rules and Execution Thereof

1. General Description

Applicants have recognized many effects that, when exploited accordingto many disclosed embodiments, can significantly increase the profit pertime period realized by a vending machine. Applicants have recognizedthat by, for example, selling products at a lower margin, but at ahigher velocity or volume, the overall profitability of a vendingmachine can be increased. Accordingly, in some embodiments, the vendingmachine may define, output and process package offers enabling customersto purchase a combination of products (from one or more vendingmachines) for a single price.

By encouraging the sale of at least two products (particularly for asingle price, for a discounted price, or with a single payment)according to various disclosed embodiments, both vending machineoperators and customers can benefit.

As customers are encouraged, through package offers, to purchase moreproducts than they otherwise would, operators can benefit throughincreased sales volume. Operators further can benefit from the increasedprofitability (e.g., per time period, per transaction, per customerinteraction) that results when such increases in sales volumesufficiently offset any discount from the packaged products' individualretail prices. Additionally, operators may economically configuremachines to accept alternative payment forms that have highertransaction costs (e.g. credit cards) than conventional payment forms(e.g. cash) because of the higher per-transaction revenue and profitthat results from selling combinations of products. Such alternatepayment forms can prompt customers to spend more than they would havespent otherwise.

Customers can benefit through (i) the net-savings that often resultswhen package prices are compared to the sum of the individual componentproducts' retail prices, and/or (ii) the added convenience gained fromthe ability to purchase several products in a single transaction.Further, as vending machines may be configured to economically offeralternate payment forms, customers may benefit from the flexibilityprovided by an increased number of payment options.

2. Process Steps of Various Embodiments

According to some embodiments, a memory stores instructions that, whenexecuted by a processor, direct a vending machine or other apparatus toidentify, output and/or process package offers.

Several embodiments of advantageous processes are described below toillustrate the wide breadth of the disclosed invention. Many of theembodiments below are described as being performed wholly by a vendingmachine. However, it will be readily apparent to one of ordinary skillin the art that these processes may be performed, in whole or part, by avending machine, by components of a vending machine, and/or by a devicein communication with a vending machine.

Further, although the description herein refers to a vending machine asdispensing units of products, a plurality of vending machines maycooperate to provide units of products. Typically, more than one vendingmachine may be employed to provide units of different types of products(e.g., a first vending machine which sells snack food and a secondvending machine which sells carbonated beverages).

Although one or more embodiments are described herein as enabling thesale of packages comprising two component products, it should beunderstood that package offers may provide for the sale of any number ofcomponent products, including three, four and five component products.

According to one embodiment, a vending machine defines at least oneinventory group, which includes at least two products that are availablefor sale by the vending machine. For example, the vending machine maydefine an inventory group that includes three specific products (e.g.,Snickers® candy bar, Milky Way® candy bar and Twix® candy bar). Thevending machine may define an inventory group by storing appropriatedata in a database or other memory structure. For example, the Tableimmediately below discloses one manner of defining an inventory group.TABLE 1 Example Definition of an Inventory Group Inventory ProductsIncluded in Group Identifier the Inventory Group G001 P34 G001 P35 G001P17 G001 P22

In the Table above, the group identified by code “G001” includes thefour products identified by codes P34, P35, P17 and P22, respectively.One of ordinary skill in the art will readily understand any other waysto define an inventory group.

In an embodiment, an inventory group may include one or more products.Furthermore, in an embodiment, a product may be included in more thanone group. Furthermore, in an embodiment, a product may be included inno group.

For example, in an embodiment, the vending machine defines at least twoinventory groups, and each of the at least two inventory groups includesat least one respective product that is available for sale.

As described in detail herein, there are many ways to advantageouslydetermine which products are included in which groups.

According to an embodiment, the vending machine outputs an indication ofproducts that the at least one inventory group includes. For example, inan embodiment the vending machine may control an output device tocommunicate (e.g., to a potential customer near the vending machine) theproducts that the at least one inventory group includes. When there ismore than one inventory group, the vending machine may output, for eachof the inventory groups, an indication of products that the respectiveinventory group includes.

If employed, an output device may comprise a flat panel monitor, cathoderay terminal (CRT), liquid crystal display (LCD) or a like device thatdisplays text and/or images (e.g., still graphics, animated graphics) asdirected by the vending machine (e.g., that a group includes “any candybar” or “anything in the top row”). Alternatively or additionally, theoutput device may comprise an audio output device such as a speaker thatis operated by the vending machine to output the appropriate sounds(e.g., synthesized sound, pre-recorded sound), typically verbalinstructions/offers to potential customers. Sounds may be output withreference to one or more data files (e.g., wave tables, MP3 files).

Alternatively or additionally, the output device may comprise aplurality of colored lighting devices (e.g., LEDs, light bulbs, LCDpanels), in which each colored lighting device is located proximate toone product column. The vending machine could selectively illuminate theplurality of colored lighting devices to indicate the products that aparticular inventory group includes. For example, each product columnmay have proximate thereto a pair of LEDs, each a different color (e.g.,red and green respectively). To indicate the products that a firstinventory group includes, the vending machine could illuminate only thered LEDs that are proximate to the product columns of those includedproducts. To indicate the products that a second inventory groupincludes, the vending machine could similarly illuminate the appropriategreen LEDs.

Several variations may be readily made to the above-described method forindicating an inventory group. For example, each product column mayinclude more than two LEDs. Similarly, each product column could includea single LED that is capable of displaying more than one color, orotherwise indicating more than one inventory group, as directed by thevending machine.

In an embodiment, the products that are included in an inventory groupmay be indicated by any means for denoting product columns. For example,a sticker, sign, flag or the like could be applied to certain productcolumns to indicate that the products of that column are included in aninventory group.

In an embodiment, the products that are included in an inventory groupmay be indicated by any means of communicating product information to acustomer. For example, a sign (e.g., located atop a vending machine) oradvertising (displayed or communicated to the customer in any mannerwhether or not proximate to the vending machine) may inform a customerthat an inventory group includes, e.g., all products of a certain type(e.g., candy bars, snack food, Mars® products), all products of acertain location (all products in the top row of the vending machine,any product from the right hand vending machine of a connected pair ofvending machines, any product in any machine on the fourth floor of abuilding) and/or certain products by name (e.g., a Snicker's® candybar).

In some embodiments, the indication of inventory groups may beadvantageously combined with the provision of an offer to the customer.For example, the vending machine may provide, to the customer, an offerto sell to the customer, for one predetermined price, (i) at least oneunit of any product that is included in a first inventory group, and(ii) at least one unit of any product that is included in a secondinventory group.

As is well known, offers may be output via many types of devices, suchas via a flat panel monitor, cathode ray terminal (CRT), liquid crystaldisplay (LCD) or a like device that displays text and/or images asdirected by the vending machine (e.g., that a group includes “pick anycandy bar and any beverage”). Alternatively or additionally, the outputdevice may comprise an audio output device such as a speaker that isoperated by the vending machine to output the appropriate sounds (e.g.,synthesized sound, pre-recorded sound), typically verbalinstructions/offers to potential customers. Sounds may be output withreference to one or more data files.

In an embodiment, an offer may be provided by any means forcommunicating information to a customer. For example, a sign (e.g.,located atop a vending machine) or advertising (displayed orcommunicated to the customer in any manner whether or not proximate tothe vending machine) may include an offer to sell to the customer, forone predetermined price, (i) at least one unit of any product that isincluded in a first inventory group (e.g., all candy bars), and (ii) atleast one unit of any product that is included in a second inventorygroup (e.g., all products in a second vending machine).

The offer may be provided at various times. For example, the offer maybe provided in response to receiving payment or receiving any input(e.g., a touch screen has been pressed). Alternatively or additionally,an offer may be provided after receiving a first selection of a productbut before receiving a second selection of a second product.

The offer is particularly enticing, and thus is more likely to beaccepted, if the offer provides the customer with a discount or otherbenefit. For example, the vending machine could provide, to thecustomer, an offer to sell to the customer, for one predetermined price,(i) one unit of any product that is included in a first inventory group,and (ii) one unit of any product that is included in a second inventorygroup. The predetermined price could reflect a discount over the retailprices of the component products. In other words, the predeterminedprice could be less than the sum of (a) a price of one unit of anyproduct that is included in the first inventory group, and (b) a priceof one unit of any product that is included in the second inventorygroup.

An “acceptance” of an offer may include payment and/or selection ofproduct(s) which correspond to the offer.

According to an embodiment, the vending machine may receive from acustomer (whether or not in response to an offer) a selection of a firstproduct that the at least one inventory group includes. For example, thevending machine may indicate that all candy bars are included in a firstinventory group, and a customer may in response indicate that select aSnickers® candy bar (which the first inventory group includes).

In an embodiment, the vending machine may receive, from a customer, aselection of (i) a first product that one of the inventory groupsincludes, and (ii) a second product that another one of the inventorygroups includes.

In such an embodiment, the selection of products may be receivedsimultaneously (e.g., “pressing a single button”). Alternatively, thevending machine may receive, from the customer, a first selection of afirst product, and then a second selection of a second product.

As is well known, selection of products may be made in many ways.Customers may press certain combinations of buttons (e.g., “A1”indicates a particular product column, so the customer may press an “A”button and then press a “1” button on the vending machine). Such buttonsmay be physical buttons (e.g., composed of plastic and appropriately incommunication with a processor of the vending machine). Such buttons mayadditionally or alternatively be “soft buttons” (e.g., graphicallydisplayed on a touch-screen device, and responsive to pressure resultingfrom the customer pressing the appropriate areas of the touch screen).Many other ways of selecting one or more products are readily understoodby one of ordinary skill in the art.

According to an embodiment, the vending machine may process a sale of(i) a unit of the first product selected by the customer, and (ii) arespective unit of at least one additional product, for a single price.In processing the sale, the vending machine will typically awaitsufficient payment, dispense the appropriate units of the appropriateproducts, and/or provide change if any change is due the customer.

The at least one additional product may have been explicitly selected bythe customer, for example, by pressing appropriate buttons that indicatethe additional product(s). Additionally or alternatively, the at leastone additional product may have been selected “for” the customer invarious manners. For example, the at least one additional product may bea product which is, by default, added to an order by a customer. Inanother embodiment, the at least one additional product may be offeredto a customer (“would you like a stick of gum for an extra ten cents?”)and “selected” by the customer when the customer accepts the offer(e.g., pressing an “OK” button).

According to an embodiment, the vending machine may process a sale of aunit of the first product and a unit of the second product uponreceiving from the customer one payment of at least a predeterminedprice. For example, the vending machine may receive from the customer asingle payment (e.g., a dollar bill is inserted, a credit card accountis charged) which constitutes the predetermined price. Alternatively,the vending machine may receive from the customer a single payment whichexceeds the predetermined price. The vending machine would typicallyprovide change to the customer in such a situation.

In addition to the features and embodiments described above, it ishighly advantageous to define inventory group(s) according to variousprocesses and/or utilizing various information. Accordingly, manyembodiments for defining inventory groups are described in detailimmediately below.

Proactive Inventory Grouping Embodiments

In “proactive inventory grouping” embodiments, various data (e.g.,product sales data, product cost data) may be employed to determine howto apportion inventory among inventory groups (typically at least twoinventory groups) before a customer selects any product. After theapportioning of products to inventory groups is complete, package offersencouraging the purchase of at least two products from at least twoinventory groups may be output by a vending machine to prospectivecustomers.

Of course, steps performed in a proactive inventory grouping embodimentdoes not imply that those steps may only be performed in a proactiveinventory grouping embodiment.

A proactive inventory grouping process by which one or more inventorygroups are each defined to include one or more respective products maybe initiated periodically, substantially continuously or after an event(e.g., a transaction, a restocking, a power-up). It can be desirablethat customers throughout each day will receive the same ability topurchase products from the same inventory groups (e.g. one customer willnot be offered the ability to select products from a more or lessfavorable inventory grouping than that which was provided to anothercustomer that day). Thus, in embodiments where the process is initiatedperiodically, it may be desirable to set the time interval betweenprocess executions (i.e. defining inventory groups) so that the processis executed at convenient times (e.g., every 24 hours starting atmidnight).

Alternatively or additionally, in embodiments where the process isexecuted after a triggering event such as a transaction with a customer,it may be desirable that the process is initiated a number of minutesafter a transaction, when no intervening transaction has been processed(e.g. the process is initiated 30 minutes after a transaction, providedno intervening transaction has been consummated). In this manner, it maybe safe to assume that the machine is experiencing a lull in sales, andthat customers accordingly may not witness any change of inventorygroupings/apportionments (i.e. a customer is unlikely to walk up to themachine and witness any reallocation of inventory from a “red” group toa “green” group).

According to one proactive inventory grouping embodiment, which isillustrated by FIG. 2, the illustrated proactive inventory groupingprocess functions to, among other things, allocate products availablefor sale to inventory groups based on (1) the relative value ratings ofthe products, and (2) stored rules for determining, among other things,whether products should be included in package offers. A description ofthe steps of FIG. 2, which provides a flow chart for such a proactiveinventory grouping process, follows:

Step 100: Determine Value Rating of each Inventoried Item.

At Step 100, the vending machine may determine a value rating ofproducts by, for example, accessing an inventory database to determine,among other things, products in inventory and characteristics thereof.

The value ratings of products may be used to determine the productswhich various inventory groups include. For example, each product that afirst inventory group includes may have a rating that is not less than arating of any product that the second inventory group includes. Asanother example, a first inventory group may include a certain portionof the highest rated products (e.g., the products with the five highestvalue ratings; the highest 50%, by value rating, of all products).

The Table immediately below describes an example inventory database:TABLE 2 Example Inventory Database Quantity at Beginning Actual IdealRow Position Product of Fill Quantity Restock Sales Sales Product NameIdentifier Category Retail Price Cost Margin Period Remaining Date RateRate Coca-Cola ® A1 Beverage $.75 $.35 $.40 20 8 Jun. 30, 2003 1.2/day1.3/day Diet Coke ® A2 Beverage $.75 $.30 $.45 20 6 Jun. 30, 20031.4/day 1.3/day A&W Root A3 Beverage $.65 $.35 $.30 20 9 Jun. 30, 20031.1/day 1.3/day Beer ® Doritos ® B1 Snack $.50 $.30 $.20 25 11 Jun. 30,2003 1.4/day 1.6/day Lay's ® B2 Snack $.75 $.30 $.45 25 7 Jun. 30, 20031.8/day 1.6/day Potato Chips Cheetos ® B3 Snack $.60 $.30 $.30 25 17Jun. 30, 2003 0.8/day 1.6/day Double- C1 Chewing $.35 $.20 $.15 40 18Jun. 30, 2003 2.2/day 2.6/day Mint ® Gum Juicy Fruit ® C2 Chewing $.35$.20 $.15 40 23 Jun. 30, 2003 1.7/day 2.6/day Gum Dentyne ® C3 Chewing$.40 $.20 $.20 40 36 Jun. 30, 2003 1.1/day 2.6/day Gum

As the above inventory database illustrates, for each product, acorresponding product category, retail price, cost, margin, quantity atthe beginning of the fill period, quantity remaining as of the currentdate/time, restock date, actual sales rate and ideal sales rate. Thedata stored by such a database may be entered by an operator (e.g., whorestocks the vending machine), determined by the vending machine withits peripheral devices (e.g., data indicating that a product has beensold, that an amount of money has been received), set randomly, and/orcalculated from available data (e.g., other data stored by the inventorydatabase or another database).

The exemplary data in the above inventory database assumes that thebeginning of the fill period was Jun. 15, 2003, and that the currentdate is Jun. 25, 2003 (i.e. 10 days into the fill period). Further, theexemplary data in the above inventory database will be referred tothroughout the remaining discussion of this process to illustrate stepsof the example proactive inventory grouping embodiment in which thevalue rating of individual products are considered. For the purpose ofthis ongoing example, it shall be assumed that a package offer to acustomer will define two products which may be purchased together for$1.00, in which one product is included in a first (“green”) inventorygroup, and one product is included in a second (“red”) inventory group.

At Step 100 of FIG. 2, a value rating is determined for each inventoriedproduct. There are many ways that value ratings could be represented andmany ways that value ratings could be determined.

A value rating may be represented as a numerical quantity, a set ofnumerical quantities (e.g. a vector, a matrix), or any other quantitythat may be used for purposes of comparison and/or evaluation. A valuerating may also be qualitative, such as “high”, “medium”, or “low”. Inone or more embodiments, the value rating of one or more products may bedetermined by considering one or more of (i) the time remaining until arestock date, (ii) the time remaining until an expiration date of aproduct or products, (iii) an actual sales rate of a product orproducts, (iv) a target or ideal sales rate of a product or products,(v) the cost of a product or products, (vi) the retail price of anindividual unit of a product or products, (vii) the retail profit marginof a product or products when sold for the retail price, (viii) thehistorical acceptance rate of a package instance comprising a givencombination of products, and/or (ix) one or more products' income orprofit contribution factor(s).

Thus, a value rating may be determined using a formula in which any ofthe above criteria (i) through (ix) may serve as variables. For example,in one embodiment, a value rating is determined by identifying aproduct's retail profit margin (as determined by subtracting theproduct's cost from the product's retail price). For example, followingthe exemplary data in the above inventory database, the vending machinecontrol system would determine that a Diet Coke® soda has a margin of$0.45. The value rating of each product margin may be that product'smargin, some proportion of the margin, or some other variation of themargin.

In another embodiment, value ratings may be determined by multiplying aproduct's margin by its actual sales rate expressed as a percentage ofthe product's ideal sales rate. By using a product's actual sales rateas a basis for predicting future sales, the vending machine controlsystem can determine the likelihood (e.g. as a percentage) that theparticular product will sell at the product's ideal sales rate. In turn,by multiplying this percentage by the product's margin, a value ratingcan be determined. (Note, however, at the beginning of a fill period, avending machine may determine a product's sales rate to be zero, as nosales data for that period has yet been collected, or may determine theproduct's sales rate based on data obtained from a prior fill period.)The table immediately below illustrates such an embodiment in thecontext of the ongoing example. In the illustrated embodiment, the valuerating of each product (as described above in the inventory database) iscalculated by multiplying each product's margin by a percentage thatreflects the product's actual sales rate divided by the product's idealsales rate: TABLE 3 Values calculated based on Actual and Desired SalesRates Actual Sales Actual Rate as Sales Ideal Sales percent of ValueProduct Margin Rate Rate ideal sales rate Rating Coca-Cola ® $.401.2/day 1.3/day 92% $.37 Diet Coke ® $.45 1.4/day 1.3/day 107% $.48 A&WRoot $.30 1.1/day 1.3/day 85% $.26 Beer ® Doritos ® $.20 1.4/day 1.6/day88% $.18 Lay's ® Potato $.45 1.8/day 1.6/day 113% $.51 Chips Cheetos ®$.30 0.8/day 1.6/day 50% $.15 Double- $.15 2.2/day 2.6/day 85% $.13Mint ® Juicy Fruit ® $.15 1.7/day 2.6/day 65% $.10 Dentyne ® $.201.1/day 2.6/day 42% $.08

In various embodiments, products can be scored, sorted and/or rankedbased on their relative value ratings, and such data can be stored inRAM pending Step 200, below, at which point the scoring, sorting and/orranking may be considered in the allocation of products to inventorygroups. Thus, following the ongoing example (in which the value ratingof each product in the above inventory database was calculated bymultiplying each product's margin by its actual sales rate as apercentage of its ideal sales rate), inventoried products can be sortedin descending order based on their relative value ratings, asillustrated by the table immediately below: TABLE 4 Values calculatedbased on Actual and Desired Sales Rates Actual sales rate as percentActual Ideal of ideal Value Product Margin Sales Rate Sales Rate salesrate Rating Lay's ® $.45 1.8/day 1.6/day 113% $.51 Potato Chips Diet$.45 1.4/day 1.3/day 107% $.48 Coke ® Coca- $.40 1.2/day 1.3/day 92%$.37 Cola ® A&W $.30 1.1/day 1.3/day 85% $.26 Root Beer ® Doritos ® $.201.4/day 1.6/day 88% $.18 Cheetos ® $.30 0.8/day 1.6/day 50% $.15 Double-$.15 2.2/day 2.6/day 85% $.13 Mint ® Juicy $.15 1.7/day 2.6/day 65% $.10Fruit ® Dentyne ® $.20 1.1/day 2.6/day 42% $.08

In embodiments where value ratings of products are determined based onprofit contribution factors, such products might be ranked or sortedaccording to their relative profit contribution percentages. Forexample, if a vending machine which sold only products A, B and C duringa fill period realized a total of $100 in profit, $45 of which wasgenerated through the sale of product A, $40 through product B and $15through product C, then the products would be sorted in the order of A(45% of the total profit), B (40% of the total profit) and C (15% of thetotal profit). Further, in some embodiments, only those products thatremain in inventory (i.e. are available for sale) at the time when Step100 is executed are considered in the ranking or sorting, and thus, inthe subsequent allocation procedure of Step 200, which defines one ormore inventory groups.

Step 200: Determine Allocation of Products to Inventory Groups Based onValue Rating Determination and Stored Rules.

The value rating associated with each product may be used in assigningproducts to inventory groups.

In one embodiment, an inventory group may define a given number ofcomponent product “slots”, or a designated number of products that maybe allocated to that inventory group. In other words, an inventory groupis defined in part according to how many products the inventory groupshould include.

For example, a vending machine may be configured to have two inventorygroups, such as “green” group and “red” group, in which the red grouphas three component product slots and the green group has six componentproduct slots. Thus a customer might be offered to select one componentproduct from the three red slots (i.e. select one product from threepossible products) and one component from the six green slots (i.e.select one product from six possible products). The slots of a group maybe “filled” according to value ratings of products. For example, thefive products having the highest profit contribution factors may beallocated to the “green” inventory group, and the six with the lowestprofit contribution factors may be allocated to the “red” inventorygroup. As described above, two or more groups may include the sameproduct, and no group may include certain products. Thus, where a greengroup includes five products and a red group includes six products,there may be eleven products available for sale, or more or less thaneleven.

In another embodiment, a predetermined percentage of the products (or ofonly the products which are available for sale) may be allocated to eachgroup so that, for example, 50% of the products will be allocated to the“red” group and the remaining 50% of products will be allocated to the“green” group. In particular, it can be advantageous to allocate similarproducts to a group. For example, the top 50% (by value rating) ofproducts are allocated to one group, and the remaining products areallocated to another group.

In another embodiment, all products having a value rating over a certainthreshold (e.g. over $0.25) may be placed in a particular inventorygroup (e.g. in the “red” inventory group).

Each inventory group may be associated with a rule (e.g., a stored valuerating-based allocation rule) defining the products that are allocatedto the inventory group. For example, in an embodiment where threecomponent product slots are “red” and six component product slots are“green”, a profitability-based allocation rule may provide that (1) thethree inventoried products having the highest value ratings are to beallocated to the “red” inventory group, and (2) the six inventoriedproducts having the lowest value ratings are to be allocated to the“green” inventory group. Thus, continuing with the ongoing example,Lay's® Potato Chips, Diet Coke® and Coca-Cola® would be allocated to thered inventory group; and A&W Root Beer®, Doritos®, Cheetos®,Double-Mint®, Juicy Fruit® and Dentyne® would be allocated to the greeninventory group. Accordingly, a package offer may provide that acustomer may purchase one product from the red group and one productfrom the green group for $1.00.

In an alternate embodiment, rather than having a fixed number ofinventory slots or a percentage-based division of products amonginventory groups, the number of slots in each inventory group may bedetermined randomly and/or pursuant to a genetic algorithm, whereby agiven slot configuration is tested randomly and evaluated against otherconfigurations.

Further, a set of package offer rules may also be employed indetermining how to allocate products to different inventory groups. Anexemplary Package Offer Rules Database is represented by the Tableimmediately below: TABLE 5 Package Offer Rules Database Package OfferRule Number Rule 1 Products from “beverage” category cannot be in sameinventory grouping as products from “chewing gum” category. 2 Totalmargin of package instance based on $1.00 package price cannot be equalto or less than 50% of the sum of the individual component products'margins. 3 Do not allocate to inventory groups those products selling at≧110% of target sales rate. 4 Cheetos ® must be both in red and greeninventory groups

Although rules may be represented as being stored in a database forreference, such rules may be implemented in an wide variety of manners,such as (i) “hard coded” into software and/or hardware, and (ii) codedin software/hardware with reference to parameters which are stored in adatabase or other memory structure.

As illustrated, a database may provide one or more rules that govern theallocation of products to inventory groups, whether or not withreference to the value ratings of the products. The exemplary data inthe above database of Table 5 depicts several rules. For example, asdemonstrated by Package Offer Rule Number 1, a package offer rule mayprovide that products from certain categories may or may not be packagedwith products from other categories. Such a rule may be desirable toensure that only certain combinations of products are offered and/or sothat certain combinations of products are not offered. For example, itmay be decided (e.g. by an operator) that certain products complementeach other, as may a beverage and a snack. Conversely, it may be decided(e.g. by an operator) that certain products should not be included in apackage offer (e.g., as in Package Offer Rule Number 1, “beverages”cannot be included in package offers with “chewing gum”). Products thatare affected by such rules (e.g., whether a product is a “beverage”) canbe determined by appropriate notation or data stored in an inventorydatabase. For example, all products that are “beverages” can beindicated as such by a flag in the corresponding record of the product.Alternatively, the rule which refers to beverages can in fact directlyrefer to a specific plurality of products (e.g., each identified by arespective product code).

Further, as demonstrated by Package Offer Rule Number 2, a package offerrule may provide that the total margin of a package instance, based on agiven package price, cannot be equal to or less than a certain percentof the sum of the individual component product's margins (based on theirrespective individual retail prices).

Similarly, a package offer rule may provide that the total margin of apackage instance, based on a given package price, cannot be less thanthe margin that would result from a sale of the individual products attheir retail prices, unless a threshold volume of sales (e.g., asmeasured by units sold, or units sold per time period) for one or moreof the component products is likely to be achieved. Such a rule may bedesirable to ensure that any discounts offered by way of package offersare sufficiently offset by an increase in sales volume. For example, byrequiring that a certain package instance have a certain historicacceptance rate, operators can rest assured that a discount offered forthe products by virtue of a package price that is less than the sum ofthe component products' individual retail prices will not likely resultin a decrease in profits.

Further still, a package offer rule may provide that products sellingabove or below a given actual sales rate may or may not be included incertain inventory groups (or in any inventory group). For example,Package Offer Rule Number 3 illustrates a rule that provides that aproduct having an actual sales rate above a certain threshold is not tobe included in inventory groups (e.g., t any inventory group which mightbe used in a package offer). Such a rule can be useful in preventingprice dilution that may otherwise result when very popular products aresold on promotion through package offers. As is known, price dilutiongenerally involves the negative effect on profitability that can ensuewhen a product is sold for a price lower than a customer otherwise wouldhave paid for the product.

Some embodiments can reduce or eliminate the effects of dilution thatmay otherwise result when package prices are less than the sum of theindividual component products' retail prices. In other words, becausevery popular products are highly likely to sell at their current retailprices, it may be decided (e.g., by an operator) that very popularproducts should not ever be sold at a discount, even for purposes ofpromoting the sale of additional (relatively less popular) productsthrough package offers. Alternatively, it may be desirable to packagetogether only products having actual sales rates above a certainthreshold with products having actual sales rates below a certainthreshold. In this manner, an operator may attempt to leverage thepopularity of a given product to sell additional, relatively lesspopular products.

Further still, an inventory group may be defined to include a particularset of products based on a what product the customers first selects(e.g. if product A1 is selected, then the second inventory group isdefined to include products B1, B2 and B3).

Moreover, a rule may provide that particular products are to be includedin some, all or no inventory groups. For example, Package Offer RuleNumber 4, above, illustrates an example rule that requires Cheetos® tobe included in both green and red inventory groups, regardless of valuerating.

Thus, continuing with the ongoing example, the table immediately belowillustrates the effect of Package Offer Rules 1, 3 and 4 on theinventory group allocations: TABLE 6 Effect of Package Offer RulesPreliminary Relevant Inventory Inventory Package Actual Sales GroupingGrouping Offer Rule Rate as (i.e. before after (from percent ofapplication considering Package Product ideal sales of Package PackageOffer Rule Product Category Retail Price Margin rate Offer Rules) OfferRules Database) Lay's ® Snack $.75 $.45 113% Red None 3 Potato ChipsDiet Coke ® Beverage $.75 $.45 107% Red Red N/a Coca-Cola ® Beverage$.75 $.40 92% Red Red N/a A&W ® Root Beverage $.65 $.30 85% Green None 1Beer Doritos ® Snack $.50 $.20 88% Green Red N/a Cheetos ® Snack $.60$.30 50% Green Green, Red 4 Double- Chewing $.35 $.15 85% Green GreenN/a Mint ® Gum Juicy Fruit ® Chewing $.35 $.15 65% Green Green N/a GumDentyne ® Chewing $.40 $.20 42% Green Green N/a Gum

As shown, Package Offer Rule 3, which functions to prevent packaging ofproducts which have sales rates greater or equal to 110% of their targetsales rates, precludes the inclusion in any package offer of Lay's®potato chips, which has an actual sales rate of 113% of its target salesrate. Further, pursuant to Package Offer Rule 4, Cheetos® are allocatedto both the red and green inventory groups, despite the initial valuerating-based allocation of Cheetos® solely to the green inventory group.Additionally, considering Package Offer Rule 1, A&W Root Beer®, abeverage, cannot be included in the green inventory grouping becausechewing gum products preliminarily exist in the green inventory groupingas a result of the above-illustrated allocation based on value rating.Thus, without yet considering Package Offer Rule 2, the possiblecombinations of component products (i.e. the package instances) areillustrated in the table immediately below: TABLE 7 PossibleCombinations Product 1 Product 2 Diet Coke ® Cheetos ® Diet Coke ®Double-Mint ® Diet Coke ® Juicy Fruit ® Diet Coke ® Dentyne ®Coca-Cola ® Cheetos ® Coca-Cola ® Double-Mint ® Coca-Cola ® JuicyFruit ® Coca-Cola ® Dentyne ® Doritos ® Cheetos ® Doritos ®Double-Mint ® Doritos ® Juicy Fruit ® Doritos ® Dentyne ® Cheetos ®Cheetos ® Cheetos ® Double-Mint ® Cheetos ® Juicy Fruit ® Cheetos ®Dentyne ®

However, considering Package Offer Rule 2, which provides that the totalmargin of a package instance based on a $1.00 package price cannot beequal to or less than 50% of the sum of the individual componentproduct's margins, it becomes apparent that the package instance whereCoca-Cola® and Cheetos® are purchased together for the package price of$1.00 violates Package Offer Rule 2. The table immediately below shows,for each potential instance in the ongoing example, whether or not thatpackage instance violates Package Offer Rule 2: TABLE 8 Violation ofPackage Offer Rule 2 Total Margin of Package Sum of Instance Product 1at $1.00 Margin Package at Retail Price (i.e. Price + Product 1 Product2 $1.00 − (Cost Product 2 Violates Product 1 Margin Product 2 MarginProduct 1 + Margin Package Retail Product 1 at Retail Retail Product 2at Retail Cost at Retail Offer Product 1 Price Cost Price Product 2Price Cost Price Product 2) Price Rule 2? Diet $.75 $.30 $.45 Cheetos ®$.60 $.30 $.30 $.40 $.75 No Coke ® Diet $.75 $.30 $.45 Double- $.35 $.20$.15 $.50 $.60 No Coke ® Mint ® Diet $.75 $.30 $.45 Juicy $.35 $.20 $.15$.50 $.60 No Coke ® Fruit ® Diet $.75 $.30 $.45 Dentyne ® $.40 $.20 $.20$.50 $.65 No Coke ® Coca- $.75 $.35 $.40 Cheetos ® $.60 $.30 $.30 $.35$.70 Yes Cola ® Coca- $.75 $.35 $.40 Double- $.35 $.20 $.15 $.45 $.55 NoCola ® Mint ® Coca- $.75 $.35 $.40 Juicy $.35 $.20 $.15 $.45 $.55 NoCola ® Fruit ® Coca- $.75 $.35 $.40 Dentyne ® $.40 $.20 $.20 $.45 $.60No Cola ® Doritos ® $.50 $.30 $.20 Cheetos ® $.60 $.30 $.30 $.40 $.50 NoDoritos ® $.50 $.30 $.20 Double- $.35 $.20 $.15 $.50 $.35 No Mint ®Doritos ® $.50 $.30 $.20 Juicy $.35 $.20 $.15 $.50 $.35 No Fruit ®Doritos ® $.50 $.30 $.20 Dentyne ® $.40 $.20 $.20 $.50 $.40 No Cheetos ®$.60 $.30 $.30 Cheetos ® $.60 $.30 $.30 $.40 $.60 No Cheetos ® $.60 $.30$.30 Double- $.35 $.20 $.15 $.50 $.45 No Mint ® Cheetos ® $.60 $.30 $.30Juicy $.35 $.20 $.15 $.50 $.45 No Fruit ® Cheetos ® $.60 $.30 $.30Dentyne ® $.40 $.20 $.20 $.50 $.50 No

As shown in the above example, the package instance including Coca-Cola®and Cheetos® is impermissible according to Package Offer Rule 2. Thus,the vending control system may make an adjustment to the inventory groupallocations so that Coca-Cola® is not offered with Cheetos®. Because, inthis example, Rule 4 provides that Cheetos® must be included in both thegreen and red inventory groups, Coca-Cola® may be removed from the redinventory group so that Coca-Cola® cannot be selected by a customeralong with Cheetos®, a green inventory product, pursuant to a packageoffer. Thus, in this ongoing example, Coca-Cola® would not be assignedto either inventory group. Accordingly, Coca-Cola® would not be includedin an offer that is defined solely by inventory groups, and thus couldnot be selected by a customer as a component product pursuant to such apackage offer.

Thus, after preliminarily allocating the inventoried products in theongoing example to red and/or green inventory groups based on theirrelative value ratings and then considering all the package offer rulesin the exemplary Package Offer Rules Database, the possible packageinstances, and the component products' inventory groupings in eachinstance, are shown in the table immediately below: TABLE 9 PackageInstances Inventory Inventroy Product 1 Grouping Product 2 Grouping DietCoke ® Red Cheetos ® Green Diet Coke ® Red Double- Green Mint ® DietCoke ® Red Juicy Fruit ® Green Diet Coke ® Red Dentyne ® Green Doritos ®Red Cheetos ® Green Doritos ® Red Double- Green Mint ® Doritos ® RedJuicy Fruit ® Green Doritos ® Red Dentyne ® Green Cheetos ® Red orCheetos ® Green or Green Red Cheetos ® Red Double- Green Mint ®Cheetos ® Red Juicy Fruit ® Green Cheetos ® Red Dentyne ® Green

Step 300: Output Package Offer.

According to the described embodiment, after the inventoried productshave been allocated to the inventory group(s), the vending machine mayoutput a package offer to customers via one or more output devices. Forexample, an LCD display may read “Pick one red product and one greenproduct for $1.00!”, and LED displays located proximately to severalproducts may illuminate or flash in red and/or green as determined bythe inventory groups. Following the ongoing example, the L productswould flash in green: Dentyne®, Cheetos®, Double-Mint® and Juicy Fruit®.

Many methods are contemplated for communicating offers via outputdevices. For example, in one embodiment, package offers may becommunicated entirely through an LCD display (e.g. through digital iconsrepresenting the qualifying products). Alternatively, in anotherembodiment, a package offer may be communicated through a combination ofstatic displays (e.g. painted or printed signage reading “Pick one redproduct and one green product for $1.00”) and LED displays locatedproximately to qualifying component products (e.g. LEDs next toqualifying products may flash in red and/or green as appropriate).

Step 400: Process Transaction in Accordance with Package Offer.

After a package offer is output to a customer, a customer may acceptsuch a package offer. Accordingly, at Step 400, the vending machine mayreceive, through an input device, an indication of a customer'sacceptance of a package offer. Such an indication may comprise thereceipt of payment (e.g., currency, a payment identifier such as acredit card number) through payment processing mechanisms such as coinacceptors, bill validators and/or card readers.

In embodiments where a customer has prepaid for products, the “receiptof payment” for the offered products may comprise a command by thecustomer to redeem prepaid credit, units or the like. For example, thecustomer could enter, via a touch screen, a code which uniquelyidentifies his previous prepayment for a certain number of products(e.g., five units of any product, six units of any beverage).Additionally or alternatively, the prepayment could be evidenced by amagnetic strip card or bar code which is read by a peripheral of thevending machine.

Alternatively or additionally, an indication of acceptance of the offermay comprise a signal, received through an input device such as a keypador touch screen, indicating that the customer desires to purchase acombination of products pursuant to a package offer (e.g., clicking a“YES” button on a touch screen).

In accordance with Step 400, a customer selects at least one productfrom each of at least two inventory groups. Thus, a customer may selecta product from a first inventory group by inputting, into a keypad ortouch screen, an indication of a product that the first inventory groupincludes (e.g., a “red” product). Following the ongoing example, acustomer may select from the red inventory group either Diet Coke®,Doritos®, or Cheetos® by inputting into a keypad his or her selection ofRow Position Identifier A2, B1 or B3, respectively. After the customerselects a first product from the first inventory group, the customer maybe instructed to and the customer may indeed select a second productfrom a second inventory group. Following the ongoing example, a customermay select, from the green inventory group, Dentyne®, Cheetos®,Double-Mint® or Juicy Fruit® by inputting into a keypad his or herselection of Row Position Identifier C3, B3, C1 or C2, respectively.

In some embodiments, a default time for selecting the second product isprovided such that if the customer does not select a second product fromthe second inventory group within the default time, the vending machinemay (1) consummate the transaction as if the first selected product waspurchased at its retail price by dispensing a unit of the product andproviding change, if appropriate; (2) prompt the customer with areminder message via an output device; or (3) automatically identify anddispense, as the second component product, a unit of a “default” productthat the second inventory group includes (e.g. a stored rule may providethat the product in the second inventory group having the highest retailprofit margin is automatically dispensed).

In some embodiments, if the customer does not select an appropriatesecond product but rather selects an inappropriate product (e.g. selectsa product that is not allocated to the second inventory group), then thevending machine may output, through an output device, an error messageprompting the customer to select a product from the appropriate (second)inventory group.

At Step 400 the vending machine may also process payment in aconventional manner such as by (i) detecting an amount that isdeposited/rendered/provided, comparing that amount to a (package) price,and dispensing change due if appropriate, or (ii) requesting a creditauthorization from a remote computer, such as a computer operated by acredit card transaction processing company (e.g. First Data Corp.).

Payment may have been previously rendered (e.g., $5 was previously paidfor the right to purchase five pairs of products in the future). If so,and if the products pursuant to such prepayment are being redeemed inthe transaction, many well known processes may be employed to debit theprepaid account for the redeemed products.

Further, at Step 400, depending on which products were selected by thecustomer, the vending machine control system may, in a manner known inthe art, transmit one or more signals to a product dispensing apparatusto dispense the at least two products. In one embodiment, dispensingsignals are sent to corresponding product dispensing actuators/motorsafter the customer selects all component products. In anotherembodiment, such dispensing signals are sent to corresponding productactuators/motors substantially immediately after each component productis selected, so that products are made available immediately followingselection.

Step 500: Record Results in Database.

At Step 500, the vending machine records results of the transaction in adatabase or similar memory structure. Step 500 may include the step of(1) updating one or more inventory records in an inventory database toreflect the vending of products (i.e. the quantity available of productssold is decreased to account for sales of units of the products), and/or(2) updating an acceptance or sales rate associated with a product orproducts to reflect the sale of a product or products (e.g., recordingthe units sold, the time of the sale and/or the date of the sale).Following the ongoing example, assuming that a customer on Jun. 25, 2003purchased, for a $1.00 package price, one can of Diet Coke® and onepackage of Double-Mint® gum, then the above inventory database would beupdated to reflect that five units of Diet Coke® and seventeen units ofDouble-Mint® gum remain in inventory and available for sale. Likewise,the actual sales rates of Diet Coke® would be updated from 1.2/day to1.3/day; the actual sales rate of Double-Mint® gum would be updated from2.2/day to 2.3/day. Thus, through the package promotion, Diet Coke®would have reached its ideal sales rate of 1.3/day, and the actual salesrate of Double-Mint® gum would have moved significantly closer to itsideal sales rate of 2.6/day.

Updating inventory amounts and sales rate data advantageously providesthe vending machine with updated market data (e.g., supply and demanddata) that can be fruitfully exploited in subsequent executions of theprocesses of various embodiments. In other words, such updated inventoryamounts and sales rates can be referenced subsequently by the vendingmachine control system in subsequently making definitions of inventorygroup (see Steps 100 and 200, supra).

Reactive Inventory Grouping Embodiments

In “reactive inventory grouping” embodiments, a customer is offered theability to purchase a combination of products for a single price byselecting a first product from a first group of inventoried products,and then picking a second product from a second inventory group which isrevealed to the customer only after the first product is selected.

Such an embodiment can be desirable because it can provide customerswith an entertaining way of interacting with a vending machine. In otherwords, because in this embodiment the second inventory group is notrevealed to the customer until a first product is selected, customersmay experience feelings of hopeful anticipation until such a secondinventory group is revealed. This feeling may be analogous to theexcitement and exhilaration some customers receive when gambling orplaying a chance-based game.

Thus, in some embodiments, game-themed messages may be output throughthe one or more output devices prior to the revealing of the secondinventory group, thereby incorporating a game-like feel into thecustomer's experience with the vending machine. In other words, in somereactive inventory grouping embodiments, output devices may beconfigured to output game-themed animations, such as spinning slotmachine reels, roulette wheels, or the like, before a second inventorygroup is revealed to the customer. Accordingly, such machines canpresent customers with the appearance that a (randomly determined)resolution or outcome of a game determines the products which the secondinventory group includes. In this manner, the second inventory group maybe presented as a “prize showcase” from which customers may select aprize.

Further, in some embodiments, reactive inventory grouping may be lesscomputationally intensive or otherwise require less computing resourcesthan, e.g., certain types of proactive inventory grouping, andaccordingly can be more desirable to some vending machine operators(particularly in certain hardware environments).

A description of FIG. 3, which provides a flow chart illustrating areactive inventory grouping process, follows. Of course, steps perform

Step 100: Output Package Offer.

At Step 100, the vending machine outputs a package offer to the customerregarding the availability of a package deal. For example, an LCDdisplay may output a message reading “Pick 2 items for $1. Pick anyitem, and then a group of items will flash. Pick any flashing item asyour second item.” Alternatively, such a message may be provided througha static means (e.g. painted or printed signage).

Step 200: Receive Customer Selection of First Product from FirstInventory Group.

At Step 200, the vending machine control system receives, via one ormore input devices, a signal indicating a customer's selection of afirst product, and that product is determined to be included in a firstinventory group. In some embodiments, this step may be accompanied orpreceded by payment processing steps, including the receipt of currency.

According to some embodiments, the selection of a product by a customermay be determined to not be included in the requisite inventory group.If so, then subsequent steps of the instant process might not beperformed.

According to one embodiment, the first inventory group may comprise allinventoried products. Thus, according to such an embodiment, a customermay select any product in inventory as the first product. Thus theproduct selected might make no difference as to which products areincluded in the second inventory group.

However, according to another embodiment, the first inventory group maynot include all products. In one embodiment, such a subset may bepredetermined (e.g. defined by an operator and/or stored in a memoryaccessible to the vending machine control system). In anotherembodiment, the first inventory group may be determined (e.g.,determined dynamically) to include products according to sale and/orcost data (and possibly stored rules or other logic mechanisms). Thus,for example, stored rules may provide that only those products sellingat or less than a particular actual sales rate are to be included in thefirst inventory group. In this manner, the vending machine may beprogrammed to promote certain products in package promotions (e.g., uponselection of a product which is not selling as well as desired).

Step 300: Determine Second Inventory Group Based on Selection of FirstProduct.

At Step 300, the vending machine defines a second inventory group basedthe customer's selection of a first product. In some embodiments, thevending machine employs one or more rules (e.g., stored package offerrules) to determine which products are potentially eligible to beincluded in the second inventory group based on the first product (whichwas selected by the customer). For example, a package offer rule mayprovide that products from competing manufacturers cannot be purchasedtogether pursuant to a package offer. Accordingly, the second inventorygroup would not include products which are manufactured by competitorsof the manufacturer of the first, selected product. Alternatively oradditionally, another package offer rule may provide that the secondinventory group includes only products from categories that are“complementary” to the category of the first product. For example, if acustomer were to select a beverage as his first product, the vendingmachine second group may only include products from the snack and gumcategories.

Further, a package offer rule may provide that, if the first selectedproduct's actual sales rate is above a certain threshold, only productsselling at or less than a predetermined actual sales rate are to beincluded in the second inventory group. In this manner, vending machinesaccording to various embodiments may exploit the popularity of awell-selling product to promote the sale of (relatively) less popularproducts.

Conversely, a package offer rule may provide that, if the first selectedproduct's actual sales rate is below a certain threshold, only productsselling above a predetermined actual sales rate are to be included inthe second inventory group. In this manner, vending machines accordingto various embodiments may prompt customers to choose a less popularproduct in the hopes of a good deal on a more popular product, with anelement of chance involved.

Alternatively or additionally, a value rating of each possible secondproduct may be considered, as described above. For example, the vendingmachine control system may determine the value rating of one or moreproducts and determine, based on stored rules, that only the fiveproducts having the highest value ratings may be included in the secondinventory group. As in the case of the above-described proactiveinventory grouping embodiments, the value rating of each possible secondproduct may be determined, e.g., based on: (1) the product's margin,and/or (2) the product's margin multiplied by its actual sales rateexpressed as a percentage of its ideal sales rate.

In an embodiment, the second inventory group may determined before thecustomer selects the first product, but the second inventory group isonly revealed to the customer after the first product is selected.

In an embodiment, a plurality of second inventory groups may bedetermined. Thus, selection of a product included in any of the secondinventory groups would be acceptable. Depending on which of the secondgroups the second selected products is included in, different actionsmay be taken (e.g., awarding bonus products or credits, providingentertaining displays or sounds). Thus an entertaining set ofinteractions can result from differentiating between acceptable secondselections.

Step 400: Output Indication of Second Inventory Group to Customer ViaOutput Device(s).

After the second inventory group is determined, an indication of theproducts included in the second inventory group is output at Step 400 tothe customer via one or more output devices. For example, LEDs locatedproximately to the products may illuminate or flash. Alternatively oradditionally, an LCD may output graphical icons representing thequalifying products included in the second inventory group.

Step 500: Determine whether Customer Selected Second Product from SecondInventory Group and Process Transaction Accordingly.

At Step 500, it is determined whether the customer selected the secondproduct from the second inventory group. If the customer has selected asecond product from the second inventory group by, for example,transmitting a signal to the vending machine processor via an inputdevice such as a keypad, then the vending machine processor may actuateproduct dispensing apparatus to dispense units of the first and secondselected products. (Alternatively, the vending machine control systemmay dispense a unit of the first product upon its selection at Step 200,and dispense a unit of the second product at Step 500 once it has beendetermined that the customer has selected a product from the secondinventory group.)

In some embodiments, this step may be accompanied by payment processingsteps, such as the receipt of payment and the dispensing of appropriatechange (e.g. based on the difference between any payment tendered andthe package price). It should be noted that such an embodiment wouldallow customers to select first products before depositing any currency,and then see which products are available as second products beforecommitting to purchase any products whatsoever. In this manner, anyanxiety caused to customers by virtue of the uncertain composition ofthe second inventory group can be reduced or eliminated.

In some embodiments, if the customer has selected a product that is notincluded within the second inventory group, the vending machine controlsystem may output, through an output device, an error message. Forexample, an LCD may output a message that reads “Sorry, but the item youhave selected is not eligible for the package deal. Please select aflashing item to continue or press “no thanks ” to purchase your firstselection at its retail price.”

In some embodiments, the vending machine control system may beconfigured to monitor the time starting, e.g., with a customer's initialselection of a first product. If the customer does not select a secondproduct within a predetermined period of time, the vending machine maybe configured to, e.g., consummate a transaction for the first productat its retail price, thereby assuming that the customer does not wish toselect a second product from the second inventory group and accept apackage offer.

Alternatively, at the end of such a predetermined period of time, thevending machine may automatically select and dispense a second product(e.g., a second product selected according to stored rules), and therebycomplete a transaction at a package price. For example, stored rules mayprovide that the product in the second inventory group with thehighest/lowest margin is automatically dispensed if no second product isselected within the predetermined period of time. Alternatively, storedrules may provide that the most/least popular product in the secondinventory group (e.g. as indicated by its actual sales rate) isautomatically dispensed if no second product is selected within thepredetermined period of time.

If any products are dispensed at Step 500 (or earlier in the process,according to some embodiments), the vending machine may, as describedabove, record results of the transaction in a database or similar memorystructure (e.g., update inventory records).

Miscellaneous Alternate and Additional Embodiments

Alternate Proactive Inventory Grouping Embodiment—Expected Profitabilityof Possible “Allocations” Considered

In another proactive inventory grouping embodiment, products areallocated to inventory groups based on the expected or predictedprofitability of each possible “inventory allocation”. In other words,unlike the previously-described embodiments in which there are apredetermined or fixed number of product “slots” in each inventory group(e.g., per a stored rule), this embodiment allocates products toinventory groups by evaluating the expected profitability of eachpossible allocation of products (e.g., to at least two inventorygroups).

For example, in a vending machine configured to sell four products (e.g.products A, B, C and D) in package deals from two inventory groups (e.g.red and green), in which all products are allocated to exactly oneinventory group and an inventory group must contain at least oneproduct, there are fourteen possible inventory allocations, asillustrated by the table immediately below: TABLE 10 AllocationsAllocation Products in Red Group Products in Green Group 1 A B, C, D 2A, B C, D 3 A, C B, D 4 A, D B, C 5 A, B, C D 6 A, B, D C 7 A, C, D B 8B A, C, D 9 B, C A, D 10 B, D A, C 11 B, C, D A 12 C A, B, D 13 C, D A,B 14 D A, B, C

As stated, the expected profitability of each possible allocation wouldbe determined. Then, the vending machine control system would select thepossible allocation with the highest expected profitability, andcommunicate a package offer accordingly. For example, if it wasdetermined that Allocation 14 (in which product D is in the redinventory group and products A, B and C are in the green inventorygroup) is expected to be the most profitable, the vending machine mayflash LEDs proximately located to each of the corresponding products inthe appropriate colors to indicate that allocation of products to thetwo inventory groups.

There are many ways that the expected profitability of an allocation maybe determined. According to one embodiment, the expected profitabilityof a given allocation may be determined by summing the expectedprofitabilities of each possible combination instance within thatparticular allocation. Thus, in the allocation in which product D is inthe red inventory group and products A, B and C are in the greeninventory group, the expected profitability for the instances “D withA”, “D with B”, and “D with C” would be individually determined and thenadded together to determine the total expected profitability of theallocation.

To determine the expected profitability of each instance within a givenallocation, a variety of techniques may be employed. According to oneembodiment, the expected profitability of a given instance is determinedby multiplying the probability that the instance will be accepted withina given period (e.g. within 24 hours) by the margin of the packageinstance (e.g. the package price less the cost of the componentproducts). In such an embodiment, the probability that a given instancewill be selected may be determined based on a stored, received orcalculated “acceptance rate” for the instance.

Multiple Package Offers in Proactive Inventory Grouping Embodiments

In some proactive inventory grouping embodiments, vending machines maybe configured to simultaneously (or substantially simultaneously) outputa plurality of package offers. Thus, after inventory groups are defined,the vending machine may output package offers that apply to theinventory groups. For example, for particular inventory groups, an offermay provide customers with the ability to choose which of the followingto purchase:

-   -   (a) two products for a first inventory group for a first package        price (e.g. two products from the “green” inventory group for        $1.50),    -   (b) one product from a first inventory group and one product        from a second inventory group for a second package price (e.g.        one product from the green inventory group and one product from        the red inventory group for $1.25), or    -   (c) two products from a second inventory group for a third        package price (e.g. two products from the red inventory group        for $1.00).    -   Any number of offers may be output simultaneously or        substantially simultaneously.

In an embodiment, offers are not output simultaneously, but are insteadtriggered by an event. For example, a single offer may be output after acustomer provides payment (e.g., inserts currency). If the customer doesnot select any product within a certain amount of time (e.g., within 20seconds of inserting currency, within 20 seconds of the offer beingprovided) then additional offers may be provided. In such an embodiment,the initial offer may be the most profitable but possibly less desirableto the typical customer (e.g., a relatively high package price, highmargin component products), and subsequent offers are less profitable,but more desirable to the customer (e.g., a relatively low packageprice, low margin component products)

In an embodiment, different sets of offers may be output at differenttimes, according to various desirable factors described herein.

Alternative/Additional Ways to Present Package offers

Many alternate or additional methods or formats for communicatingpackage offers are contemplated.

In a proactive inventory grouping embodiment, a list of specific packageinstances could be output to customers via an output device, rather than(or in addition to) indicating the inventory grouping status ofdifferent products. For example, rather than merely outputting an offerthat instructs prospective customers to select any “red” and any “green”product for $1, a vending machine may also group certain packageinstances of “red” and “green” products and communicate the instancesvia an LCD display. Following the ongoing example from the abovedescription of proactive inventory grouping embodiments (in which DietCoke®), Doritos®, and Cheetos® were allocated to the red inventory groupand Dentyne®, Cheetos®, Double-Mint® and Juicy Fruit®) were allocated tothe green inventory group), an LCD may output an offer visuallyrepresenting a grouping of Diet Coke® with Dentyne®. Thus, rather thancommunicating all possible instances, only a certain number of instancesmay be shown through an LCD display (e.g. those with the highest orlowest historic acceptance rates). Further, package instances may becommunicated through similarly colored LEDs. For example, a particularpackage instance comprising Diet Coke® and Dentyne® may be communicatedby illuminating purple LEDs next to both Diet Coke® and Dentyne®,indicating that the products together comprise a single packageinstance.

In a proactive or reactive inventory grouping embodiment, customers maybe offered the ability to purchase, for a package price, any combinationof products whose retail prices total a certain sum. For example,customers may be offered the ability to purchase, for a $1 packageprice, any two products having a combined retail price of $1.30.Similarly, customers may be offered the ability to purchase any producthaving a first retail price (e.g. $0.85) and any product having a secondretail price (e.g. $0.25) for a single package price (e.g. $1.00).

Further, in a proactive or reactive inventory grouping embodiment,certain (but not necessarily all) products that an inventory groupincludes may be given a visual preference (e.g. some red LEDs may flashat faster intervals than other red LEDs; some red LEDs may beilluminated brighter than other red LEDs, etc.). Thus, particularproducts included in an inventory group may be promoted over otherproducts in the same inventory group. For example, products in aninventory group having a higher value rating may be indicated bybrighter LED displays than products in that inventory group having alower value rating. Alternatively, products that are selling at salesrates below a certain threshold may be indicated by brighter LEDdisplays than products that are selling at sales rates above thethreshold. This embodiment would help draw greater customer attention toproducts that are selling relatively poorly.

In yet another alternate embodiment, inventory groups are notdynamically determined (e.g., as in proactive or reactive inventorygrouping embodiments), but are rather determined according to storedrules that govern which products may together comprise packages andwhich may not. For example, in an embodiment, a vending machine may beconfigured to allow a customer to pick three products for $1.00,provided that no two products are from the same shelf (row) of thevending machine. Thus, package offers may be communicated with fixedsigns or other advertising on or around the shelves or the vendingmachine. In such embodiments, upon selection of a first product, avending machine may prevent the selection and dispensing of certainproducts (e.g. products from the same shelf, row or category) as secondproducts. Alternatively, a warning or other indication may be providedto the customer, and the customer allowed to select another product.

Cross-Machine Promotions

As stated, various embodiments can be configured to work in conjunctionwith two or more vending machines. Thus, according to some embodiments,pursuant to a package offer, customers may purchase two or more productsfor a single price, and may select and/or retrieve products from two ormore vending machines.

Thus, a customer may view the inventory of two machines (which may beproximately-located), and may accept an offer output from a firstmachine or output from a peripheral device. The peripheral device may bestand-alone or integrated with one or more of the vending machines. Theperipheral may communicate with one or more of the vending machines innay of a number of well-known manners.

The vending machine or peripheral device may output a code, password,PIN, receipt or other substantially-unique identifier to the customer.This identifier may be redeemed at a participating vending machine,allowing the customer to retrieve products from one or more of theparticipating machines.

For example, after allocating inventoried products to at least twoinventory groups spanning at least two machines using theabove-disclosed methods, a first vending machine may output an offerreading “2 for $1! Select any flashing item from this machine AND anyflashing item from the adjoining machine for $1.” LEDs locatedproximately to the qualifying products may flash. A customer may then,after seeing the flashing products, decide to accept the package offerand deposit $1 into the first machine. The customer may then select afirst product from the first vending machine, and the first vendingmachine may then output a (substantially-unique) bar code on a piece ofpaper (e.g., printed by an on-board printer, preprinted stock dispensedby a dispensing device). The customer could then be instructed, throughthe first vending machine's output device, to insert the piece of paperinto a reader (e.g., ticket reader, bill acceptor, card reader, bar codereader) which is attached to or in communication with the second machinewhen the customer is ready to select his second product. Upon presentingthe piece of paper (e.g., into the card reader), the second vendingmachine's processor would validate the code by querying either a localdatabase (e.g., of previously agreed-upon codes) or a remote database(e.g., created and stored by the first machine). The second vendingmachine could then present to the customer the same inventory group asoriginally advertised at the time of the offer. Thus, the customer mayreturn to select his second product at a later time (even after thesecond vending machines inventory has been reallocated to new inventorygroupings), and the second vending machine could revert back to orrecall the previous inventory grouping in effect at the time of theoffer. This would allow the customer to select from the options thatwere originally presented to him (e.g. the products that were previouslyflashing in red are returned to red status upon presentment of the barcode identifier).

An apparatus and method for processing the sale of two products from twovending machines for a single price is disclosed with reference to U.S.Pat. No. 6,059,142 (to Wittern, Jr. et al.), the entirety of which isincorporated herein for all purposes.

Display of Retail Prices

In an embodiment, retail prices are not automatically communicated byoutput devices to customers. Instead, a customer must affirmativelyinquire as to the retail price of a particular product. In this manner,customers are encouraged to accept package offers, which are activelypromoted by the vending machine's output devices. However, in otherembodiments, the retail prices of the individual products may becommunicated contemporaneously with the presentation of package offers.

In an embodiment, customers may be permitted or required to selectbetween various modes, such as “retail” and “package” modes, beforetransacting with the vending machine. That is, before selecting andpurchasing any products, a customer may press a button on a touch screenor otherwise indicate whether the customer would like to (1) purchase apackage (e.g., two products for $1.00), or (2) purchase one product forthat product's retail price.

OPT Out of Inventory Groups for a Premium

In an embodiment, customers may be offered the option to pay a premiumso that they can purchase two or more products from the same inventorygroup, rather than one from each. For example, a message on a vendingmachine's touch screen might read: Want two red items? Add $0.25.” Inessence, such an embodiment would give the customer the ability to buythemselves out of the predefined inventory groups and would therebyensure that customers are given more choice.

Periodic Random Allocation of Products to Inventory Groups

In an embodiment, one or more random products are allocated to inventorygroups (periodically, after each transaction, at random times). Thisembodiment would tend to keep the inventory groups new and exciting forvending machines with many repeat customers (e.g., vending machines inoffice buildings). In such an environment, customers may tend topurchase the same products repeatedly. This embodiment thus maypositively influence repetitive inventory grouping/allocation patterns.

Customers Offered Choice between One or Two Products; ConfirmationScreens

In an embodiment, vending machine transactions are limited to a certainprice, and customers are given a choice between one higher priceproduct, and two or more products from two or more inventory groups. Forexample, transactions may be limited to purchases of $1.25 and for $1.25customers may purchase either (1) one (large) bottle of soda, or (2) two(small) cans of soda. Further, in an embodiment, vending machines may beconfigured to output “confirmation screens” in response to a customer'sselection so that a customer must confirm her selection through an inputdevice (e.g. a button) before such selections are accepted and thetransactions are consummated.

Value-Back “Bonuses”

In an embodiment, customers who select two (or more) products as part ofa given single-price package offer (e.g. two products for $5) may beoffered a “bonus” (e.g. a third product) upon certain conditions (e.g.,if certain rules are satisfied). Thus, in some embodiments, whencustomers select two (or more) products that together represent morethan a threshold amount of realizable profit for the machine, suchcustomers are offered a bonus that may be valued at an amount equal to,less than, or greater than the amount of additional realizable profitbeyond the threshold amount. For example, if a customer selects twoproducts from an inventory group typically associated with high-marginproducts, the machine may “give value back” to the customer in the formof a bonus, in order to bolster the goodwill with the customer andhopefully spur future transactions with the customer and favorablerecommendations by the customer. Such an embodiment would workparticularly well in situations in which a customer selects two productsthat having retail prices that, when aggregated, are less than thesingle package price. Thus, the vending machine would not take advantageof the customer's failure to realize the markup.

Bonuses may take many forms, including: (1) printed vouchers or ticketsentitling customers to discounts (e.g. for the amount that surpasses thethreshold amount) or free products from one or more vending machines inthe future; (2) instant cash rebates (e.g. for the amount that surpassesthe threshold amount; such amounts may be dispensed through changedispensing apparatus), and (3) extra product(s) (e.g. products which arevalued at approximately the amount that surpasses the threshold amount)from the same vending machine or other vending machines.

In an embodiment, where appropriate (e.g., where one or more rules aresatisfied, are not satisfied), bonuses may be selected by the customer.For example, the vending machine may output a message to the customerindicating that the customer may “select any additional ‘red’ flashingproduct”, and the customer's selection of a red product causes a unit ofthe red product to be dispensed. Further, a time limit may be imposed sothat if the customer does not so select an appropriate product within athreshold amount of time (e.g. two minutes after the offer ispresented), the vending machine may automatically issue a cash rebate,or provide no bonus.

In an embodiment, where appropriate (e.g., where one or more rules aresatisfied, are not satisfied), bonuses may be communicated to customersthrough game-themed content or interface. For example, utilizing a“Price is Right®” game theme, customers may be given the opportunity to“spin” a “value wheel” for a bonus product by pressing a button on atouch screen. Once the customer has pressed the button, a wheel icon maybe displayed as spinning on the touch screen, ultimately stopping on anindication of a bonus to be awarded (e.g. a particular product). Manyother game themes are contemplated, including “Wheel of Fortune®”.

Subset of Inventory Considered in Allocation Process; “Rounded”Allocations

In an embodiment, the vending machine may only consider products placedin a single “column” or “shelf” of the vending machine when determininghow to allocate products to inventory groups. For example, in a snackmachine embodiment in which a vending machine has several shelves,products may happen to align in several columns. For example, a machinehaving four shelves, each capable of storing five products (i.e. tenhelixes per shelf in a double helix snack machine), would have fivecolumns. The operator may program the machine so that products stockedin the two rightmost columns are to be allocated to the “red” group, andthat products stocked in the two leftmost columns are to be allocated tothe “green” group. Thus, in such an embodiment, the vending machinewould only determine (e.g., dynamically) how to allocate the inventorystocked in the center column to the different inventory groups (greenand red).

The vending machine may determine, for example, that three of the fiveproducts in the center column are to be allocated to the “red” inventorygroup. In such embodiments, the vending machine may be furtherconfigured to allocate all products in the column to the group thatdominates the column. That is, in this example, all products in thecenter column would be allocated to the red inventory group because amajority (three of the five) products in the center column wereinitially allocated to the red group. Such a “rounded allocation” may bedesirable in some markets, as it would provide a convenient,user-friendly way to communicate inventory groupings to customers. Thatis, in such an embodiment, customers may easily see that all products onthe right of the machine are “red”, while all products on the left ofthe machine are “green”.

Transaction Status Messages/Screens

In an embodiment in which customers are permitted to choose two or moreproducts for a single price, one or more output devices may beconfigured to communicate the status of a transaction to a customer. Forexample, after a customer selects a first product, an indication of thefirst product may be communicated to the customer via an output device(e.g. an icon of the selected first product may appear on an LCDdisplay). Further, instructions regarding the selection of a secondproduct may be communicated through such output devices. That is, aftera customer has selected a first product from a first inventory group, amessage may be output to the customer instructing the customer to selecta second product from a second inventory group. For example, afterselecting a product from a first inventory group (e.g. a product on afirst shelf; a product indicated by a “green” flashing light), thecustomer may be instructed to pick a product from a second inventorygroup (e.g. a product on a second shelf; a product indicated by a “red”flashing light).

Package Offer Row

In an embodiment, a vending machine may be configured dispense two (ormore) products from a particular row or other particular location for asingle price. Thus, a row of a vending machine may be designated as a“package offer” row, and the vending machine may be configured toconsecutively dispense, from such a row, units of two (or more) productsupon tender of a package price and selection of a corresponding rowidentifier (e.g. “A1” may correspond to a package offer row whichprovides two units of Snickers® candy bars for $1.00). Further, such“package offer” rows may be configured to prevent the dispensing ofsingle units of product for retail prices (i.e. such rows may beexclusively used for package offers).

A package offer row may be stocked with alternating types of products.For example, a Snickers® candy bar may be followed by a Milky Way® candybar, which is followed by a Snickers® candy bar, and so on. Thus,purchasing from such a package offer row can allow diverse combinationsof products (e.g., “A2” may correspond to a package offer row whichprovides one unit of Snickers® candy bar and one unit of Milky Way®candy bar for $1.00).

In such embodiments, a vending machine may be configured to dispense two(or more) products from a first row for a single price, while dispensingonly one product from a second row for a single price. Alternatively,every row in a vending machine may be configured as a “package offer”row.

1-6. (CANCELED)
 7. A method comprising: defining the at least oneinventory group based on a desired inventory amount of at least oneproduct that is available for sale in which the at least one inventorygroup includes at least two products that are available for sale;outputting an indication of products that the at least one inventorygroup includes; receiving, from a customer, a selection of a firstproduct that the at least one inventory group includes; and processing asale of a unit of the first product and a respective unit of at leastone additional product for a single price.
 8. The method of claim 7, inwhich defining the at least one inventory group based on a desiredinventory amount comprises: calculating the target sales rate of the atleast one product to achieve a desired inventory amount of about oneunit of the at least one product by a predetermined time.
 9. A methodcomprising: defining at least one inventory group based on at least oneof: a cost of at least one product that is available for sale, a retailprice of at least one product that is available for sale, and a retailprofit margin of at least one product that is available for sales, inwhich the at least one inventory group includes at least two productsthat are available for sale; outputting an indication of products thatthe at least one inventory group includes; receiving, from a customer, aselection of a first product that the at least one inventory groupincludes; and processing a sale of a unit of the first product and arespective unit of at least one additional product for a single price.10. The method of claim 9, in which defining at least one inventorygroup comprises: determining a first cost of a second product that isavailable for sale; and defining the at least one inventory group toinclude the second product based on the first cost.
 11. The method ofclaim 9, in which defining at least one inventory group comprises:determining a first retail price of a second product that is availablefor sale; and defining the at least one inventory group to include thesecond product based on the first retail price.
 12. The method of claim9, in which defining at least one inventory group comprises: determininga first retail profit margin of a second product that is available forsale; and defining the at least one inventory group to include thesecond product based on the first retail profit margin.
 13. The methodof claim 12, in which defining at least one inventory group comprises:determining a total profit during a time period of all productsavailable for sale; determining a profit contribution during the timeperiod of the second product; and defining the at least one inventorygroup to include the second product based on the first retail profitmargin and the total profit.
 14. The method of claim 13, in whichdetermining a total profit during a time period of all productsavailable for sale comprises: for each product available for sale duringthe time period, determining a profit contribution by multiplying anumber of units sold of the respective product during the time period bythe retail profit margin of the respective product; and aggregating theprofit contributions of all products available for sale; and in whichdetermining a profit contribution during the time period of the secondproduct comprises: multiplying a number of units sold of the secondproduct during the time period by the first retail profit margin of thesecond product; and in which defining the at least one inventory groupto include the second product based on the first retail profit marginand the total profit comprises: defining the at least one inventorygroup to include the second product based on a ratio of the profitcontribution during a time period of the second product and the totalprofit.
 15. The method of claim 13, in which determining a total profitduring a time period of all products available for sale comprises: foreach product available for sale during the time period, determining aprofit contribution; ranking all products available for sale by therespective profit contribution of the product; selecting a subset ofhighest ranked products, such that the sum of the respective profitcontributions of the subset are approximately a predetermined percentageof the total profit; and defining the at least one inventory group toinclude the subset of highest ranked products.
 16. The method of claim9, in which defining at least one inventory group comprises: definingthe at least one inventory group based on a product of (i) a retailprofit margin of at least one product that is available for sale, and(ii) a rate of units sold per time of the at least one product.
 17. Amethod comprising: defining at least one inventory group based on atleast one of: an acceptance rate of offers which include at least oneproduct that is available for sale, in which the at least one inventorygroup includes at least two products that are available for sale;outputting an indication of products that the at least one inventorygroup includes; receiving, from a customer, a selection of a firstproduct that the at least one inventory group includes; and processing asale of a unit of the first product and a respective unit of at leastone additional product for a single price.
 18. The method of claim 17,in which defining at least one inventory group comprises: determining afirst acceptance rate of a second product that is available for sale;and defining the at least one inventory group to include the secondproduct based on the first acceptance rate.
 19. A method comprising:defining at least one inventory group based on at least one of: dataentered for at least one product that is available for sale, in whichthe at least one inventory group includes at least two products that areavailable for sale; outputting an indication of products that the atleast one inventory group includes; receiving, from a customer, aselection of a first product that the at least one inventory groupincludes; and processing a sale of a unit of the first product and arespective unit of at least one additional product for a single price.20. The method of claim 19, in which defining at least one inventorygroup comprises: determining first data entered for a second productthat is available for sale; and defining the at least one inventorygroup to include the second product based on the first data.
 21. Amethod comprising: defining the at least one inventory group to includeat least one product that is not available for sale, in which the atleast one inventory group includes at least two products that areavailable for sale; outputting an indication of products that the atleast one inventory group includes; receiving, from a customer, aselection of a first product that the at least one inventory groupincludes; and processing a sale of a unit of the first product and arespective unit of at least one additional product for a single price.22. A method comprising: defining at least two inventory groups, inwhich each of the at least two inventory groups includes at least onerespective product that is available for sale; outputting, for each ofthe inventory groups, an indication of products that the respectiveinventory group includes; receiving, from a customer, a selection of afirst product that one of the inventory groups includes, and a secondproduct that another one of the inventory groups includes; andprocessing a sale of a unit of the first product and a unit of thesecond product.
 23. The method of claim 22, further comprising:providing, to the customer, an offer to sell to the customer, for onepredetermined price, (i) at least one unit of any product that isincluded in a first inventory group, and (ii) at least one unit of anyproduct that is included in a second inventory group.
 24. The method ofclaim 23, in which providing an offer comprises: providing, to thecustomer, an offer to sell to the customer, for one predetermined price,(i) one unit of any product that is included in a first inventory group,and (ii) one unit of any product that is included in a second inventorygroup.
 25. The method of claim 23, in which receiving, from a customer,a selection comprises: receiving, from the customer, a first selectionof the first product; and then receiving, from the customer, a secondselection of the second product; and in which providing the offer isperformed after receiving the first selection and before receiving thesecond selection.
 26. The method of claim 22, in which receiving, from acustomer, a selection comprises: receiving, from the customer, a firstselection of the first product; and then receiving, from the customer, asecond selection of the second product.
 27. The method of claim 26, inwhich defining at least two inventory groups comprises: defining atleast one inventory group after the step of receiving the firstselection.
 28. The method of claim 27, in which defining the at leastone inventory group after the step of receiving the first selectioncomprises: defining the at least one inventory group based on the firstselection of the first product.
 29. The method of claim 27, furthercomprising: defining at least one inventory group before the step ofreceiving the first selection.
 30. The method of claim 26, in whichdefining at least two inventory groups comprises: defining the at leasttwo inventory groups before the step of receiving the first selection.31. The method of claim 26, further comprising: after receiving thefirst selection, preventing the customer from selecting any product thatis available for sale but that the another one of the inventory groupsdoes not include.
 32. The method of claim 22, in which defining at leasttwo inventory groups comprises: determining, for every product that isavailable for sale, a rating; defining a first inventory group toinclude a first set of products; defining a second inventory group toinclude a second set of products, in which each product that the firstinventory group includes has a rating that is not less than a rating ofany product that the second inventory group includes, and in which everyproduct that is available for sale is included in at least one of thefirst inventory group and the second inventory group;
 33. A methodcomprising: defining at least two inventory groups, in which each of theat least two inventory groups includes at least one respective productthat is available for sale; outputting, for each of the inventorygroups, an indication of products that the respective inventory groupincludes; providing, to the customer, an offer to sell to the customer,for one predetermined price, (i) one unit of any product that isincluded in a first inventory group, and (ii) one unit of any productthat is included in a second inventory group in which the predeterminedprice is less than a sum of (a) a price of one unit of any product thatis included in the first inventory group, and (b) a price of one unit ofany product that is included in the second inventory group; receivingfrom the customer one payment of at least the predetermined price;receiving, from the customer, a first selection of a first product thatone of the inventory groups includes; receiving, from the customer, asecond selection of a second product that another one of the inventorygroups includes; and processing a sale of a unit of the first productand a unit of the second product for the predetermined price.
 34. Amethod comprising: defining at least two inventory groups, in which eachof the at least two inventory groups includes at least one respectiveproduct that is available for sale; outputting, for each of theinventory groups, an indication of products that the respectiveinventory group includes; providing, to the customer, an offer to sellto the customer, for a predetermined price, (i) one unit of any productthat is included in a first inventory group, and (ii) one unit of anyproduct that is included in a second inventory group; receiving, from acustomer, a selection of a first product that one of the inventorygroups includes, and a second product that another one of the inventorygroups includes; receiving from the customer one payment of at least thepredetermined price; and processing a sale of a unit of the firstproduct and a unit of the second product for the predetermined price.35. A method comprising: defining at least two inventory groups, inwhich each of the at least two inventory groups includes at least onerespective product that is available for sale; outputting, for each ofthe inventory groups, an indication of products that the respectiveinventory group includes; providing, to the customer, an offer to sellto the customer, for a predetermined price, (i) one unit of any productthat is included in a first inventory group, and (ii) one unit of anyproduct that is included in a second inventory group, in which thepredetermined price is less than a sum of (a) a price of one unit of anyproduct that is included in the first inventory group, and (b) a priceof one unit of any product that is included in the second inventorygroup; receiving, from a customer, a selection of a first product thatone of the inventory groups includes, and a second product that anotherone of the inventory groups includes; and processing a sale of a unit ofthe first product and a unit of the second product for the predeterminedprice.
 36. A method comprising: defining at least two inventory groups,in which each of the at least two inventory groups includes at least onerespective product that is available for sale; outputting, for each ofthe inventory groups, an indication of products that the respectiveinventory group includes; receiving, from a customer, a selection of afirst product that one of the inventory groups includes, and a secondproduct that another one of the inventory groups includes; and in whichthe predetermined price is not based on a price of the first product,and the predetermined price is not based on a price of the secondproduct processing a sale of a unit of the first product and a unit ofthe second product for the predetermined price.
 37. A method comprising:defining at least one inventory group, in which the at least oneinventory group includes at least one respective product that isavailable for sale; receiving, from a customer, a selection of a firstproduct; determining whether the at least one inventory group includesthe first product; and disallowing the selection of the first product ifthe at least one inventory group does not include the first product. 38.An apparatus comprising: means for defining at least two inventorygroups, in which each of the at least two inventory groups includes atleast one respective product that is available for sale; means foroutputting, for each of the inventory groups, an indication of productsthat the respective inventory group includes; means for providing, tothe customer, an offer to sell to the customer, for one predeterminedprice, (i) one unit of any product that is included in a first inventorygroup, and (ii) one unit of any product that is included in a secondinventory group; means for receiving payment from the customer; meansfor receiving, from the customer, a first selection of a first productthat one of the inventory groups includes; means for receiving, from thecustomer, a second selection of a second product that another one of theinventory groups includes; means for processing a sale of a unit of thefirst product and a unit of the second product for the predeterminedprice; means for dispensing at least one product in response to themeans for processing a sale.
 39. The apparatus of claim 38, in which themeans for outputting, for each of the inventory groups, an indication ofproducts that the respective inventory group comprises: a plurality ofcolored lighting devices, in which each colored lighting device islocated proximate to one product column.
 40. The apparatus of claim 39,in which the means for outputting, for each of the inventory groups, anindication of products that the respective inventory group comprises:means for selectively illuminating the plurality of colored lightingdevices.
 41. The apparatus of claim 38, in which the means for providingan offer comprises: a display device that is operable to display textand images.